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Date: Fri, 06 Dec 2002 11:27:49 -0500
From: Hyman Rosen <hyrosen@mail.com>
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Date: 2002-12-06T11:27:49-05:00
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Preben Randhol wrote:
> You mean that sending an e-mail from one
> person to another is public information?

Certainly. An e-mail is sent out in plain text over
packet-switched networks. It is exactly like sending
a post-card. Anyone handling it may read it.

 > If so then why isn't sending letters, doing phone
 > calls this too?

Letters are sealed. Conventional phone calls happen
over wires, to which access is restricted by private
property laws. Phone companies have generally agreed,
or been bound by law, to not eavesdrop, but otherwise
there would be nothing wrong with them doing so.

 > The new laws in the US does not concern public available
 > information, but 24 hour surveilance of all from bank
 > accounts to e-mails etc... of American citizens.

As I said above, it's unreasonable to expect privacy in
e-mail when you broadcast it in plain text. Banks already
have to report various transactions to the government,
and citizens already have to report on various aspects of
their financial life in the same way, mostly for tax
collection purposes.