VaporStream Announces Finalists for “The Blundies” Awards; Public Invited to Vote on Biggest Email and Texting Blunder

Contest Highlights E-mishaps from Real People to Illustrate the Day-to-Day Risks of Electronic Communications

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VaporStream, providers of the preeminent recordless messaging service for confidential communications, today announced the finalists in The Blundies Awards. For three weeks, entrants submitted descriptions of their own email and texting blunders for a chance to win prizes and the satisfaction of educating others on the potential embarrassment and stress caused by painful e-mishaps. The entries have been narrowed to three finalists, and the public can now vote for their favorite blunder at the VaporStream website. Voting will be open until midnight on July 24. The entry receiving the most votes will be crowned champion, and in addition to finalist prizes, will receive an iPad 2 and the coveted Blundies trophy.

“We all read about e-mishaps from high profile figures, but as these finalists’ entries show, they happen to real people and can have very real repercussions on personal lives, business reputations and careers”

The following provides a synopsis of The Blundies’ finalists:

• A mother, fond of forwarding along jokes and chain letters to her son, forgot to delete previous email interactions with her “Golden Girls-esque” friends. As a result, her son learned some rather sordid details about his parents’ divorce – a reminder that an email, once forwarded, cannot be taken back.
• An attractive consultant joined a new company and informed a co-worker about her history as a model and a website with her rather racy photos. Office gossip is one thing, but when the CEO inadvertently sent an email to the entire company with a link to his new employee’s provocative photos, it’s clear that e-mishaps can happen to anyone and cause embarrassment for all.
• Overworked, underpaid and exasperated, a young woman composed a rant that eviscerated corporate America in very colorful language. Unfortunately, she mistakenly saved the document under a similar title as her resume, emailing it the next morning to 14 corporate employment opportunities. Not only did she receive no interview requests, the e-mishap marks what could be the first time a job-hopeful has received career advice recommending a move to a communist country.

“We all read about e-mishaps from high profile figures, but as these finalists’ entries show, they happen to real people and can have very real repercussions on personal lives, business reputations and careers,” said VaporStream Co-Founder & President, Joseph Collins, Jr. “While The Blundies has been fun, we want people to understand there are inherent risks in electronic communications that can be avoided. Sometimes executives are in public places and need to safely and confidentially provide details about a deal; or a doctor can be off-site and require medical data right away but also has to protect patient privacy. Confidential information made public can hold serious consequences – but the risks of traditional email and texting can be avoided with simple, low cost tools that prevent such disasters from occurring.”

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.