The hazards of using "Bcc" (blind carbon copies) on emails are many:
- Bcc recipients may not realise that they received the email as a Bcc.
- In some email clients when a Bcc recipient makes a "reply to all," it does just that.
- In any case, your Bcc recipients aren't obliged to maintain the confidentiality that you may think your communication is owed.
- There are countless ways for a forwarded Bcc to make a 'tour' and end up identifying the Bcc recipient.
- When you put something sensitive in an email, you're putting it in writing.
- It's often the distribution list that moves 'upset' over email content to anger.
- Content that might be justified as a private communication between two people could be defamation when published by email.
Ask yourself, if the 'open' recipient(s) knew about the Bcc recipient(s) would they be upset? If the answer is yes, think twice.
If you must send a copy in confidence, a (slightly) better tactic is to send the email and then forward a copy to the other party. This affords you an opportunity to explain why your sending it, makes it clear that it's a special copy, and prevents a "reply to all" disaster. ▪
They call it the beaten path —
but if you want to see a beating, try leaving it.
—Yllib Ybnad (b. 1948)
