Turn Off Auto-Complete on Your Email

Or at least make sure you pay close attention to who you're emailing before you hit send. That message, which has always been pretty close to Business Hacks' heart, was nailed home today when it appears that the New York Times scoop about a one billion dollar Eli Lilly settlement was the product of a confidential email accidentally landing in a reporter's inbox. Here's how Portfolio describes it:

When the New York Times broke the story last week that Eli Lilly & Co. was in confidential settlement talks with the government, angry calls flew behind the scenes as the drug giant's executives accused federal officials of leaking the information.

As the company's lawyers began turning over rocks closer to home, however, they discovered what could be called A Nightmare on Email Street, a pharmaceutical consultant told Portfolio.com. One of its outside lawyers at Philadelphia-based Pepper Hamilton had mistakenly emailed confidential information on the talks to Times reporter Alex Berenson instead of Bradford Berenson, her co-counsel at Sidley Austin.

Yowch. Just in case you had started slacking--