Meanwhile, back in the office, a BBC headline caused something of a double-take: Messaging spreads office gossip.

Yes, IM can be handy for spreading office gossip, but so can email, newsgroups, web forums (fora?), memos, post-it notes, text messages, blogs, telephones, faxes and (gasp) talking out loud to one another.

Logging IM conversations as we do emails is the proposed solution. Where do we stop? Will we ever get to the point where we’re required to log even verbal conversations?