In the digital age, it’s not enough to assume that an email address is always valid. Failing to confirm email accuracy could lead to serious liability for businesses if their communications go unnoticed or overlooked. A hypothetical example posed by email authentication firm ISIPP describes a situation in which an unconfirmed email address contributes to a customer being injured – and the business being held responsible. In the scenario, a gym sends a member an email informing them of a puddle on the floor to avoid. The member doesn’t receive the email because the gym has an incorrect email address on file, causing them to slip and be injured. In such a scenario, the gym could be held responsible due to its failure to confirm the accuracy of the email address in question.
Excerpt from the main article:
Not confirming email addresses can put your customer in physical danger, and can cause you legal liability if they are harmed. We’ve written before about how not confirming email addresses can potentially create real-world, real legal liability, because in certain settings, and particulately in ecommerce, it can actually lead to your customer suffering physical harm; maybe even death. When you share a customer’s personally identifiable information (PII) with a third party, in addition to breaking or potentially breaking all sorts of laws, you are also potentially exposing them to physical danger. Because you owe a duty of care to not share their PII with third parties without their permission (often a duty spelled out explicitly by law), when you breach that duty, and as a result of that breach they come to harm, you can be held legally liable. And even if at the end of the day you ‘win’
How Not Confirming Email Addresses Can Create Liability if Your Customer is Injured as a Result – Get to the Inbox by ISIPP SuretyMail was originally published on Get to the Inbox by ISIPP SuretyMail
