Blind Carbon Copy
An email feature that sends copies to recipients without revealing their addresses to other recipients.
Also known as: BCC
Category: Techniques
Tags: email, communications, privacy, professional, etiquette
Explanation
Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) is an email feature that allows you to send a copy of an email to additional recipients without other recipients knowing. Unlike CC (Carbon Copy), addresses in the BCC field are hidden from all other recipients.
How It Works:
- TO field: Primary recipient(s) - visible to everyone
- CC field: Carbon copy recipients - visible to everyone
- BCC field: Blind carbon copy recipients - hidden from everyone except the sender
Common Use Cases:
1. Privacy Protection: Sending to a large group without exposing everyone's email addresses
2. Professional Communication: Keeping stakeholders informed without making them visible to clients
3. Legal/Compliance: Creating records of communications
4. Mailing Lists: Preventing reply-all disasters and protecting subscriber privacy
5. Discrete Notification: Keeping someone in the loop without the primary recipient knowing
Best Practices:
- Use BCC for large distribution lists to protect privacy
- Consider ethics when BCC'ing - it can feel deceptive
- Remember that BCC recipients can still reply-all accidentally
- Use for documentation purposes when appropriate
Origin:
The term comes from the typewriter era when carbon paper was used to make copies of documents. A 'blind' copy was one made without the recipient of the original knowing.
Ethical Considerations:
- BCC can be perceived as sneaky in some contexts
- Consider transparency in professional communications
- Company policies may govern BCC usage
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