There’s an old press proverb that goes something like this: Never put something in writing that you wouldn’t want other people to later read. Updated: Never email something you wouldn’t want other people to read.

It isn’t nearly as sexy a story, but consider what happened just a couple of weeks ago in Mississippi. After he and State Farm agreed to the dismissal of a suit the insurance company had brought against him, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood’s office put out a press release denying that this amounted to a settlement, and he wrote an op-ed claiming victory in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

Irritated, a lawyer for State Farm emailed her colleagues wondering if the company shouldn’t request that Hood be held in contempt of court for misrepresenting the terms of the settlement in what has been a long and difficult case for the company.

Or she thought she did. The email went to a dozen reporters and Hood’s press secretary, and relations between the former litigants were back to shaky.

The attorney, by the way, was a partner in one of the big New York law firms. That’s the really fun thing about the indiscretions revealed via electronic gadgets: They often ensnare those who can afford the best gadgets first, and never quite figure out how to use them.

Read the Rest…