When to use BCC:
July 24, 2009
A couple of weeks back, I signed up as interested in a marketing thing by Toyota, which basically involved being loaned a car for a certain period and having to write some things about it – nice or otherwise.
Of course, if I’d bothered to actually read the site (and/or the URL) I’d have seen it was a promotion by Toyota Ireland. *Ahem* So yes, I’m an idiot as well, and really should learn how to read.
Anyway, earlier this week I got an email from Toyota Ireland saying that I hadn’t been selected – for pretty obvious reasons.
However, Toyota Ireland’s Marketing department had made what can only be called a bit of a cock-up. They’d sent it to all the people who’d signed up, and done every single person as a CC (Carbon Copy) instead of a BCC (Blind Carbon Copy). Which meant that everyone could see all the names, and that Toyota Ireland had given away their entire mailing list for this promotion.
And that’s why you should never use CC for bulk emails. Always, always, always use BCC. It means that the only email address that’s visible to everyone is the one in the “To” field, so it should be sent (ideally) to yourself, and everyone else in the BCC field.
Not doing so leaves you wide open for legal issues about breaching personal data protection laws, and also for breaching your own company’s privacy policy.
For instance, I don’t necessarily want everyone on the list to know I’ve been interested in the promotion. It’s no-one else’s business what I do in my spare time, or what I sign up to. (Of course, I’ve now publicised it a bit anyway, but that’s not the case in point – I’ve chosen to publicise what I was doing)
It’ll be interesting to see how Toyota Ireland handle this cock-up now. I know that a few people have raised it formally with Toyota’s Privacy Officer, so I’m sure there will be further updates on this as time goes by.