Top 2009 Email Headlines

By Stephanie Jordan
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Last week, Proofpoint offered a review of top email stories for 2009. Here are a few:

Steamy Sanford Affair — We’ve all heard the adage, “Don’t put in email what you wouldn’t want in the daily newspaper.” South Carolina governor, Mark Sanford, certainly did not get the memo. In June 2009, The State published steamy emails detailing Sanford’s affair with “Maria,” a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

‘Climategate’ — On Nov. 17, over 1,000 emails either sent from or to members of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia in eastern England were allegedly hacked and leaked onto the Internet. Critics have asserted that the emails show collusion by climate scientists to withhold scientific information, while other climate scientists have called the incident a smear campaign.

Waves of Praise — Launched on Oct. 1, Google Wave is “attempting to change the way we communicate and collaborate online.” If you were one of the chosen few and received an invite, you probably gushed and praised the new tool – perhaps even claiming its instant ubiquity over email. The one major drawback however, is that one better have advanced Web skills since Wave is certainly not for dummies.

You’ve got salmonella! — A House panel investigating Peanut Corp. of America, the company accused of shipping peanut products it knew were contaminated, uncovered more surprising emails. Apparently more concerned with the company’s bottom line than human lives, President Stewart Parnell told underlings via email to continue shipping product despite knowledge of the salmonella outbreak.

Conficker Hype — Panic over the worm reached a frenzy leading up to April 1. In the end, Conficker didn’t fool us as it came and went with a whimper.

For more of Proofpoint’s most notable email stories of 2009, visit the company’s Web site. 

Published December 21, 2009