CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The excitement builds for The Blundies Awards with VaporStream today announcing the first inductees into its E-Mishaps Hall of Fame. VaporStream, providers of the preeminent recordless messaging service for confidential communications, is conducting The Blundies to illustrate the inherent risks of electronic communications. The public is invited to submit their own blunders in email and texting by July 4, 2011 at 12:00 am EDT for a chance to win prizes and experience the warm satisfaction of educating others to the potential embarrassment and stress caused by painful e-mishaps. All entries will remain anonymous.
Today’s inductees into the VaporStream E-Mishaps Hall of Fame include high profile blunders, further emphasizing that e-mishaps can happen to anyone and hold profound ramifications. Hall of Fame inductees include:
- Anthony Weiner: Only a month ago, Weiner was a rising political star, a U.S. Representative and leading candidate to be the next Mayor of New York. However, a now-infamous photograph of him wearing tight-fitting briefs ended up in the possession of a coed in Washington State, and we all know what happened from there. “Weinergate” started with an e-mishap: tawdry tweeting.
- Lady Gaga: Weeks ago, when Vogue Editor-in-Chief, Anna Wintour, texted the wildly popular singer to let her know she had won the prestigious CFDA Fashion Icon Award, she probably wasn’t expecting to be called an obscenity in response. Gaga’s reply was the result of a common e-mishap – contact confusion. She reportedly thought Wintour was actually an assistant to her stylist, also named Anna.
- Tiger Woods: Once considered the world’s most marketable athlete, Woods was undone by a series of e-mishaps: text messages saved by his alleged mistresses. This proves yet again that with e-mishaps, anything you write can and will be used against you.
- Fabrice “Fabulous Fab” Tourre: This Goldman Sachs employee wrote in an e-mail “the whole building is about to collapse anytime now” and that the Fabulous Fab is the “only potential survivor.” Pride goeth before a fall, and email lives forever – which is why the Fabulous Fab soon found himself discussing his e-mishaps as a star witness in a Senate subcommittee investigation of one of the worst scandals of the subprime mortgage crisis.
- Stephen Colbert: The host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report is being inducted into the Hall of Fame not for a personal e-mishap, but for bringing much needed national publicity to the problem. From his hilarious use of Twitter in the wake of Weinergate to his coverage of a hacktivist group posting emails exchanged between Hunton & Williams and HBGary regarding tactics to undermine liberal activists, Colbert has been at the forefront in illustrating the risks of electronic communications.
VaporStream’s E-Mishaps Hall of Fame is part of the run-up to The Blundies Awards in which the public is invited to share their best e-mishap stories, either a first-hand experience or one they witnessed, in 1,000 words or less. On July 4, submissions will close, and judges will select three finalists who will receive a $100 gift card to Amazon.com and a year’s subscription to VaporStream for themselves and four friends. Finalist entries will be posted on the website for a worldwide popular vote from July 11-24. The entry that receives the most votes will be named champion, with the submitter also receiving an iPad 2 and the coveted Blundies trophy. All entries will remain strictly anonymous. Blundies submission can be made on VaporStream’s website (www.vaporstream.com), where entrants will also find complete rules and details.
“High profile figures have done more than their fair share to remind us of the inherent risks of electronic communications, so a Hall of Fame seemed only fitting,” said Jack Hembrough, CEO of VaporStream. “In weeks, The Blundies will provide a glimpse into the day-to-day e-mishaps that we’ve all seen.
“While we’re having fun with this, when confidential information ends up in the wrong hands lives, careers and business reputations can be ruined,” added Hembrough. “There’s a practical need for confidential messaging. An executive needs to provide details on a business deal immediately but can’t speak openly because he’s in a crowded airport lounge. A doctor is off-site and needs medical information right away but wants to protect patient privacy. Such data made public by mistake can hold serious repercussions, and it’s an unnecessary risk to take when simple, low cost tools can prevent that from ever happening.”
About VaporStream
VaporStream offers enterprises of all sizes the only completely secure and confidential messaging channel for business communications. VaporStream messages literally “vaporize” after being viewed and cannot be copy/cut/pasted, forwarded, printed or saved. VaporStream enables recordless messaging to eliminate damaging information compromises and address regulatory compliance issues. Based on a software-as-a-service model, VaporStream is ideally suited to industries communicating highly sensitive information, such as healthcare, government, military intelligence, law and insurance.