Messaging

Makin' Copies

At least we have Ernie, Denise, Rory, and others to prove that not all lawyers are clueless when it comes to technology. But just to be safe, maybe one of us ought to call Weil Gotschal and offer to show them the bcc: field...
[tins ::: Rick Klau's weblog]

Leaving aside ignorance, this is a usability issue.

First, remember that e-mail is an almost exact analogue of paper mail.

What is a bcc? Back in the old days, before Xerox made copyright infringement a household activity, one had to use special paper "coated with a mixture of wax and pigment" — carbon paper — to make duplicates of a work — unless you desperately wanted to type it more than once.

It became common practice to indicate in memoranda and letters who the recipients were, not just those who received the memo, but those who received carbon copies: cc's. This was only polite.

If you didn't want the recipient to know who else received a copy, you simply didn't indicate that on the original — and had your secretary send them a carbon copy anyway. Thus, a blind carbon copy.

In e-mail, a bcc is a recipient who is on the envelope, but not in the message body (RFC 822 § 4.5.3). MUAs provide a facility for users to specify a bcc recipient. This facility was readily apparent.

Why did the bcc: field disappear from view?

11:08:21 AM # Google It!
categories: Messaging