Blind carbon copying (BCC) is an email option that allows duplicate messages without sharing recipient information. It’s an electronic method, not involving carbon or paper. BCC hides recipient addresses, while CC shows them. BCC can be used for privacy or sending a copy to oneself.
Blind copying, often abbreviated to BCC, can be a misleading term. Two reasons for this are because blind carbon copying does not involve carbon and it does not involve paper. BCC is a term that refers to an option available with most email applications. This option allows you to send duplicate messages without sharing each recipient’s information with other recipients.
Coal can be sandwiched between two pieces of paper. This will copy the information written on the top page to the page below, hence the term carbon copy. When this term is used in reference to the internet, however, carbon is not actually being used. The method is instead completely electronic.
It should be noted that a carbon copy (CC) on the Internet is not the same thing as a blind carbon copy. The difference is that when a carbon copy is sent, all recipients can see the addresses of all other recipients. With a blind carbon copy, recipients cannot see the addresses listed in the Bcc field. Recipients listed in BCC can, however, see those listed in the TO and CC fields.
The blind carbon copy field usually appears below the CC field in an email application. It may not appear automatically with the other options when a person opens a new email. In some cases, there will be a link or toggle that needs to be clicked to reveal the Bcc field. It should be noted that such fields are rarely identified by the full term and a person should look up the abbreviation.
This field can be used like other recipient fields. Multiple email addresses can be entered and usually they must be separated by a comma. There is generally a maximum number of recipients that can be entered. Some email applications do not allow sending an email without at least one address listed in the primary recipient field. In this case, it’s nearly impossible to keep recipients from knowing they’re receiving a copied document.
There are a number of reasons why people use the blind carbon copy option. Some people are very concerned about protecting the privacy of others. Therefore, they use this option to prevent the sharing of their recipients’ names and addresses. In other cases, people may want to send a blind carbon copy to themselves without the primary recipient knowing.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
