Home > Technobuddy > Archives > 2007 > June > 25 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USHow private are your e-mails?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An e-mail isn’t as private - as far as the way the law treats it - as a sealed letter that goes through the U.S. postal system.
But the story linked here offers some hope that the law may offer more protection to your e-mails. It’s one of the first rulings that recognizes the fact that - when you send an e-mail to a person - you have some expectation that it is a private communication.
The law is still murky and other rulings - from higher courts - probably would have to come before there is any clear law on e-mail privacy.
Meantime, keep in mind three things: (1) Any e-mail that you send can end up being forwarded and saved - and, even years later, could cause embarrassment or worse. (2) When you delete an e-mail from your in-box there is an excellent chance that it still exists on some server. (3) E-mail sent from a work computer has even less protection since you are using your employer’s computer system and Internet connection.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment | Categories: General
Comments
By River Rat
June 25, 2007 12:49 PM | Link to this
Privacy no longer exists except in your own home with the doors closed and the internet connection disabled. Cell phones, land line phones,cable boxes,even the computer in your automobile are designed to tell on you should the need arise. As we’ve seen from the recent hearings in congress E-mails have a longer shelf life than nuclear waste when it comes to E-mail delete doesn’t mean much. I make it a practise to never put anything in an e-mail that I wouldn’t want my Mom, wife or boss to see.
By albert
June 25, 2007 1:08 PM | Link to this
I’ll bet the same concept applies to blogs. uh oh !!
By C. Henry Adams & BIE
June 25, 2007 3:10 PM | Link to this
Cyber Reality Check #1
There is no real privacy on the “Internet”.
(Or)
Should we state it as “Privacy Reality Check #1?
Just a thought.
C. Henry Adams & BIE http://www.networkingmenu.com
By Mike
June 25, 2007 5:36 PM | Link to this
Went to www.belare.com searching for the program for computer reports that you recommended on Sunday, 24 June 2007. Every link took me to a site that was not Belare. Help.
By Bill
June 25, 2007 8:42 PM | Link to this
It’s Belarc - not Belare.
Bill
By Joe Allison
June 26, 2007 3:59 AM | Link to this
Senior Engineers at Verizon, and with the Internet Over The Air Division of Sprint PCS have both advised me that any Security with any wireless connection is a total impossibility to the technology, and that a dedicated internet connection with CDMA will never happen.
Without Security and a Dedicated Connection to even imagine that Privacy would exist with emails is a signal that the person speaking is a bright light in a dark closet.
By Katie
June 26, 2007 7:32 AM | Link to this
anyone who thinks e-mail is private is just plain stupid. There is no privacy on the internet.
By Katie
June 26, 2007 7:33 AM | Link to this
anyone who thinks e-mail is private is just plain stupid. There is no privacy on the internet.
By been there, done that
June 26, 2007 8:36 AM | Link to this
we have only to watch CSI, Law & Order, or any criminal investigation to know there is NO such thing as privacy on the internet.. even drives that have been ‘cleaned’ show up tell-tale info..
the internet is just what it is.. you just can’t take it ‘personal’.. :)
By Trae
June 26, 2007 8:53 AM | Link to this
More parents should read this blog. Using a computer as a babysitter for your children is not only lazy, but can be very dangerous. Kids don’t understand that everything they do can and sometimes IS tracked on the internet.
Keep them safe!
By Ssgreeno
June 28, 2007 11:48 AM | Link to this
I once sent an email to Bill, with a question on Ham Radio interference. He answered it with a brief email. I thought that was that. Months later, I idly googled my own name, and lo and behold - there was my email to Bill in it’s entirety. WHY or how it got there, I will never know but it was a wake-up call on where emails end up.
By Bill
June 28, 2007 11:57 AM | Link to this
Hi Ssgreeno, I answered your e-mailed question in the question and answer column I write. That column also appears online - including on this site. So when you Googled your name you found the column either in this newspaper or one of the other newspaper where it appears. You’re right to be cautious with e-mails. But in this instance your question was printed in the newspaper.
By Roger
June 29, 2007 1:44 PM | Link to this
An Arkansas judge ruled that the act of sending an email to a government email address means that there is “no expectation of privacy.” Email Blog. It seems that email archiving will lead to the release of many more messages.