Netiquette - BCC Blind Copy

Protecting Privacy with Blind Copy - BCC

Importance of BCC | Benefits of BCC| Where is the BCC Field?

The Importance of Blind Copy Many people use the To: field or CC: (Carbon Copy) field to reach multiple email recipients, when it might be prudent or more considerate to use BCC: (Blind Carbon Copy) instead. If you were not aware of the distinction, read on. If you know about BCC, but don't know how to access it in your Mail program, take a look at the documentation or Help for your Mail program or ask someone who knows - I don't know of any Mail program that does not provide BCC.

Follow the link below to understand some of the benefits of using BCC.

Using BCC is all the more important when you are forwarding "warnings" or information that might just possibly be SPAM or a hoax, so you don't play into the hands of the spammers and spread a lot of private name & address information all over the internet for them to 'harvest' later.

If you find this message interesting, useful or helpful, email it using BCC to someone who might need to read it! Enjoy Safe & Considerate Surfing!

Benefits of BCC

[The following is excerpted from http://www.internetsecurityguide.com/websecurity/benefitsofbcc.shtml ]

BCC, which stands for blind carbon copy, allows you to hide recipients in email messages. Unlike addresses in the To: field or the CC: (carbon copy) field, addresses in the BCC: field cannot be seen by other users.

Why would you want to use BCC?

There are a few main reasons for using BCC:

• Privacy - Sometimes it's beneficial, even necessary, for you to let recipients know who else is receiving your email message. However, there may be instances when you want to send the same message to multiple recipients without letting them know who else is receiving the message. If you are sending email on behalf of a business or organization, it may be especially important to keep lists of clients, members, or associates confidential. You may also want to avoid listing an internal email address on a message being sent to external recipients.
• Respect for your recipients - Forwarded email messages frequently contain long lists of email addresses that were CC'd by previous senders. These addresses are highly likely to be active and valid, so they are highly valuable to spammers. Furthermore, many email-borne viruses harvest email addresses contained in messages you've already received (not just the To: and From: fields, but from the body, too), so those long lists in forwarded messages pose a risk to all the accounts they point to if you get infected.

Many people frequently forward messages to their entire address books using CC. Encourage people who forward messages to you to use BCC so that your email address is less likely to appear in other people's inboxes and be susceptible to being harvested. To avoid becoming part of the problem, in addition to using BCC if you forward messages, take time to remove all existing email addresses within the message. The additional benefit is that the people you're sending the message to will appreciate not having to scroll through large sections of irrelevant information to get to the actual message.

How do you BCC an email message?

Most email clients have the option to BCC listed a few lines below the To: field. However, sometimes it is a separate option that is not listed by default. If you cannot locate it, check the help menu or the software's documentation.

Where is the BCC field?

If you want to BCC all recipients and your email client will not send a message without something in the To: field, consider using your own email address in that field. In addition to hiding the identity of other recipients, this option will enable you to confirm that the message was sent successfully.

Yahoo Mail: When creating a new message, look to the right of the To: field. You’ll see a Show BCC link. Click it and the BCC field appears.

Gmail: Under the To: field in a new message is an Add BCC link. Click it and there’s your BCC field.

AOL: Click that BCC link next to the To: field in a new email message.

Outlook: In the latest version of Outlook open a new message and click the Message Options tab. In that tab you’ll see the option to Show BCC.

Mac Mail: Choose the appropriate setting in the View menu.