Spare us the e-mail yada-yada
Automatic e-mail footers are not just annoying. They are legally useless
“IF THIS e-mail is received in error, notify the sender immediately.” “This e-mail does not create an attorney-client relationship.” “Any tax advice in this e-mail is not intended to be used for the purpose of avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code.” Many firms—The Economist included—automatically append these sorts of disclaimers to every message sent from their e-mail servers, no matter how brief and trivial the message itself might be.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Spare us the e-mail yada-yada”

From the April 9th 2011 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
The trouble with MAGA’s manufacturing dream
Donald Trump underestimates the difficulty of producing in America—and how his own policies will make it harder

Lip-Bu Tan, the man trying to save Intel
The struggling American chip giant’s new boss is no stranger to comebacks

Watch out, Elon Musk. Chinese robots are coming
Why China may win the great automaton race
The early lives of bosses
From cot to corner office
Shopping malls are making a comeback in America
But can they withstand an economic slowdown?
How Donald Trump might steal Christmas
Toymakers are being walloped by tariffs