This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.
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20 Oct 2005
I received an email through a mailing list that I’m on from an employee of a financial brokerage. Like many messages that pass through a company email server, this one had a legal notice tacked onto the bottom of it. This one was more than the standard “if this message wasn’t meant for you, please don’t read it” tag. This one was a whopping 2235 characters long:
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Notice Regarding Entry of Orders, Instructions and Confirmation of trades:
Electronic mail sent through the Internet is not secure and could be intercepted by a third party. Please do not transmit orders, instructions or identifying information regarding your Bear Stearns account(s) by email. Action oriented messages, transaction orders, fund transfer instructions or check stop payments should not be transmitted by E-mail to Bear Stearns employees. Bear Stearns can not be held responsible for carrying out such orders and/or instructions. Your Bear Stearns confirmation and monthly account statement are the official records of the firm and should be the documents that you conclusively rely upon.
Notice regarding Transmission of Research reports, Newswires, Publications, and Financial Data prepared by Outside Sources:
While the information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, its accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Bear Stearns has not independently verified the facts, assumptions, and estimates contained in this report. Accordingly, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to, and no reliance should be placed on the fairness, accuracy, or completeness of the information and opinions contained in this report. Consequently, Bear Stearns assumes no liability for the accompanying information, which is being provided to you solely for evaluation and general information.
Bear Stearns does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction. In order for Bear Stearns to comply with Internal Revenue Service Circular 230 (if applicable), you are notified that any discussion of U.S. federal tax issues contained or referred to herein is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of: (A) avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code; nor (B) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.
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What’s the longest email tag you’ve ever seen?
I've not had any ridiculously long ones but many are much longer than the email body itself.
When I was in highschool the company I was consulting with wanted to do this. I looked it up and there's actually an RFC that says that SMTP signatures should be no more than 200 bytes. So then I pointed them to the document and said it would "abuse the Internet" and that we would be kicked off. Since this was a non-tech org they believed me :)
This is the longest I have seen. Wow, each email is guaranteed to be a 2235 characters or longer. I guess legally they are covered for just about anything.
Most big companies are stinkin' clueless. They think this stuff makes their business look more "professional", in reality it just makes them look ignorant legal geeks that don't understand people and choose to appear unapproachable.
2235 characters? That's insane! I don't understand why anyone would want their notice to be longer than almost every message they would send.
This discussion has been closed.
Adam Kalsey
October 20, 2005 8:55 PM
The email message that this tag was attached to? It's only 65 characters long, including the signature.