Monday, February 1, 2010

Fun With Documents

One of the most unexpected things about receiving announcements and press releases from the city is when they send them in the DOC format instead of a standard PDF. In DOC formats, I can simply go into Word and erase the text but still retain the city's letterhead. This inevitably leads to all kinds of deviltry and high jinx, especially for someone with my twisted sense of humor.
Consider the following example from last year, which contained a communication from the mayor on city letterhead, which I turned into the mother of all resignation letters.
Names have been purged to protect the innocent and I'm reposting it here because it just shows you what a dumb mistake the communications director made by sending out press releases and other important documents on city letterhead in the DOC format instead of a PDF. Some who obtain those DOC formats could write anything they wished, and could create bogus documents that might harm the city and cause legal troubles. In an age where criminals use technology for their own malicious gain, reproducing official letterheads is like counterfeiting money. By not converting DOC files into PDFs, the city opens itself up for mischief by unscrupulous types who'll use the letterhead for their own purposes. The city should safeguard all of its outgoing communications, whether to the media, to the public or to other official entities.
Remember, kids: protect your official letterheads and only e-mail PDFs.



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