2008-08-30 Being courteous or breaking the law?

Do you need a courtesy title? Do you want one? If so, do you get the title you want, such as "Dr" or "Reverend" ? Do you think they should be confined to the dustbin of history? Did you know that laws in both the UK and the US on gender discrimination and data protection may require you to make courtesy titles optional on your website? Some history I've been online in the UK since 1983. In all that time, the standard form of address online was as it is in much of America - first name. Dear Craig was fine or Dear Craig Cockburn for a bit more formality. Dear Mr Cockburn was completely laughable and Mr Cockburn was used to convey humour, and here's another example. However back in 1991, well before the web became popular, we had the first rumblings and again in 1993 of what would happen when the "traditional" world was to go online. The Internet was an informal medium where surnames were only used to write address labels. You can happily look through the Google archives of usenet to see the informal standard in action and across international boundaries. The most usual use of a title on usenet was to offend someone in a flamewar. The same was true when I went to work for an American company in the UK. 120,000 employees and everyone from the CEO Ken Olsen to new hires at the bottom of the corporation was called by their first name and perhaps their last name too. Dear Craig was fine there. On the front of an envelope "Craig Cockburn" (no silly "Esq" at the end or "Mr" at the front was used, or necessary). Banned by the law Hardly surprising from an American company though, the US Constitution (Article I, Section 9) expressly forbids the granting of titles according to an article in Washington Life on titles, and they are optional under the Federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act. This Act states that you cannot by law require someone to give a title as doing so could form the basis of sex discrimination. Titles of nobility are also banned in Canada as well as in many republics and their use can cause major diplomatic rows involving heads of state. Also, credit card application forms almost universally allow the title to be dropped from how your name appears on the card, in response to public demand. The routine use of the title Mr for every male browsing a UK site also causes legal problems when viewed in The Netherlands. In the Netherlands the title "Mr." denotes someone (male or female) with a law degree. It would be improper - in certain circumstances perhaps even illegal - for someone without a law degree to use that title.