NASA HQ Email Contains UK Government Security Warning
Keith’s note: I just got an email from [[email protected]] inviting me to an event on the 9th floor today. The email (from someone at Valador Inc. who works at NASA, uses a NASA.gov email account, sent this on official NASA business) had this rather odd disclaimer at the bottom (twice):
“Visit http://www.gov.uk/fco for British foreign policy news and travel advice and http://blogs.fco.gov.uk to read our blogs. Please note that all messages sent and received by members of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and its missions overseas may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded in accordance with the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000. We keep and use information in line with the Data Protection Act 1998. We may release this personal information to other UK government departments and public authorities.”
Why is anyone at NASA (an American government agency) sending out official email with a disclaimer that suggests that people (most likely Americans) visit a foreign government’s official website – and then warn these same Americans that “We may release this personal information to other UK government departments and public authorities“?
Keith’s update: I am told that the person who sent me the email was forwarding it from someone who had forwarded it from the UK Embassy …
This could be the UK government surreptitiously attempting to advise US citizens not to invade Syria 🙂
This seems like an example of something that bugs me — people forwarding an email without reviewing it to see what they’re actually passing on. DId they even read it all. I see this as lazy, but worse, it tells the recipient that the sender doesn’t think enough of them to spend 10 seconds reviewing and perhaps editing the content.
How did NASA get hold of a Foreign Office email warning? The British Scientific Civil Service should append a different warning. There could be an interesting story hiding here.
A bit unrelated – is it standard business practice for contractors to have @nasa.gov email addresses or whatever for other agencies? How common is that elsewhere? Why not just use their Valador email address? Same for Lockheed Martin or whoever. Who do they work for and who do they get their paychecks from?