When the message is important only print will do

The super injunction that was ended last week had been imposed to protect the names of 19,000 Afghans and UK service personnel released inadvertently on an email. The ultimate in legal instruments, most often used to prevent intrusion into a celebrity’s marriage or other affairs, had been granted 18 months after the email and its spreadsheet attachment were sent out. Had the list fallen into the wrong hands, it was feared that murders, arrests and worse might follow. The super injunction was lifted because there had not been a spate of such activity by the Taliban and further fears were lessening.

It shows stupidity on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, shoddy behaviour by those in power. But most importantly it shows just how ineffective emails are. For 18 months this email had been in the public domain along with its Exel attachment and nobody had opened the spreadsheet to see what it contained, or worse nobody had even bothered to read the email. And that includes the Taliban themselves. Writing in The Observer, Bernard Gray (my old boss) says that recipients would have included a handful of trusted people outside the military establishment. He says it’s inconceivable that nobody noticed and says that this points to a cover up.

On the contrary, it points to the fact that everybody’s inbox is overflowing with emails: spam, work related, marketing, from clubs, organisations and businesses you need to interact with. It is hardly surprising that this email could be missed as so many thousands are each day. Advocates for email claim theirs will cut through the morass when theirs is causing the morass. It’s like the drivers wondering what the problem is when stuck in the traffic jam. They are the problem. To achieve real cut though and gain attention the message has to be printed, not emailed. If the MoD wanted it to be noticed they would have chosen to print it.