And contrary to popular belief, deleting an e-mail isn't like shredding a damning paper letter, experts said. The messages can stick around in company archives for years.
"Most people think of e-mails as a conversation, not realizing that they're writing a document that's just as legal as a memo or a letter," said Sandra Chrystal, director of the Center for Management Communication at USC. "That e-mail is not confidential."
E-mail isn't the only minefield. People also should be wary of how they text, instant message and even post to forums.
Just ask former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Thousands of text messages written on a city-owned BlackBerry to his chief of staff, Christine Beatty -- many of them steamy -- were revealed by the Detroit Free Press last year, after both had denied a personal relationship under oath. The text messages also revealed that the pair had lied about their involvement in a police official's firing.
Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and agreed to pay $1 million in restitution to the city. He was released from jail in February after serving 99 days.
At one point during the affair, fearing that Kilpatrick's bodyguards knew she had spent the night in his hotel room, Beatty texted: "So we are officially busted!"
Kilpatrick responded: "Damn that. Never busted. Busted is what you see!"
He, and others, might want to rethink that.
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tiffany.hsu@latimes.com
