CNBC reports that Goldman Sachs flags employee emails based on a long list of "offending" phrases. If an employee types a profanity, apparently a window pops up to confirm that the person really truly wants to say that word. The other objective given is to detect fraudulent behavior.
The list they published apparently came from 2008, so very aged, but I think it is a hoax. Many of the terms listed are so common that they would have to employ an army of people to sift through the false positives!
Here are a few of these supposedly flagged phrases:
a sure bet; a sure thing; are not responsive; are unresponsive; bad to worse; charged too much; charged excessively; cover your losses; didn't explain to us; don't you f*cking understand; found several errors; I am not a happy camper; I told you {days/weeks/months} ago; I demand; let me remind you; etc.
There will be many more innocent usage of these phrases than there are suspicious ones.
Further, such a list has a chilling effect on any whistle-blowing.
Finally, employees who want to say those things will simply migrate off the email platform, or use code words.
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When you see these stories, you start to sympathize with the movement in Europe to establish a "right to be forgotten". If you know that all your emails to your employees or supervisors will be forever archived, you will begin to be careful about how you say anything.
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