DO YOU GET PERSONAL WITH YOUR E-MAILS? THE COURT SAYS OTHERS CAN READ IT!

Hansell, Saul (2004) “You’ve Got Mail (and Court Says Others Can Read It) NEW YORK TIMES, 7/6

You send that special one an e-mail and tell them one of your innermost secrets. Then you send the note and instantaneously it goes to the one you love. Right? Wrong!

Your message makes some “stops” along the way by various computers.  They can read your e-mail and they don’t need a court order. It appears that you and I were protected when legislation was enacted in 1986.  It was called the STORED COMMUNICAATIONS ACT.

Congress recognized that any time you store communication; there is an inherent loss of privacy and one needs protection. Thus, a wiretap was needed so that others could get your mail.  In 2003, a federal district court in Boston agreed with the original act and affirmed the case protecting all of us from intruders.

Last week, the First Circuit court of Appeals, in a 2 to 1 decision, affirmed that e-mail can be monitored.

So, it appears, that you got mail, and there are others learning about your personal life.

Much of your life is now being monitored by someone if they choose to do so, and there isn’t much that you can do about it.