Legal E-Mail and Text Messaging Course

E-mail and text messaging are convenient forms of communication that make peoples' jobs easier and more productive.  However, with this convenience also comes great risk.  This course covers all the legal risks of email, describes how email and text messaging work and details why they are not safe in many situations.

This course covers: 

E-Mail is Permanent

• Once an email has been sent, it becomes a permanent record.
• It’s virtually impossible to erase an email.
• There is an entire industry dedicated to computer forensics
• Computer forensic experts can recover almost any email.
• Destroying a hard drive will not make you safe.
• Most organizations back up all electronic communication.
• Every email leaves an electronic trail on the way to its destination.
• Email is probably on the receiver’s hard drive
• Many organizations save a record of every text sent from their company phones indefinitely.

E-Mail and Texts are not Private

• The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 makes any e-mail sent through an organization’s servers or devices property of that organization.
• Emails and text messages sent after work hours and away from the workplace are still your organization’s property if sent with devices owned by your organization. 
• Emails can be subpoenaed with any litigation involving your employer
• Emails can be used in any employment action taken by your organization.
• Over a million employees have been fired or disciplined for the inappropriate use of email.
• Employees should have no expectation of privacy when it comes to email or text messages.

The Never Send List

• Confidential information
• Insider Trading
• Viruses
• Copyrighted Information
• Contracts
• Trade Secrets

Employer Policies

• Read and understand your employer’s emailing and texting policies.
• Many employers have specific policies related to your organization’s industry requirements.

When used properly, e-mails and text messages can be powerful business tools.  Make sure your employees can avoid the legal traps that email and text messaging present.

This course includes a full HD video and an employee quiz