When you send an e-mail message you send it to a specific person but many other people may also get it, how can this happen if it was meant for one specific individual? There are many reasons why other people may see your e-mail. If you use a free e-mail service such as Yahoo or Gmail your e-mails are stored somewhere in cyber space not on your computer. If you send an e-mail from work, your employer may have access to all the e-mails that are sent and received from their e-mail system. There have actually been court cases where businesses are granted the right to monitor e-mail messages of their employees.
Every time you enter your e-mail address to websites to subscribe for their promotional, keep in mind you are also giving this information to other businesses. E-mail marketing is a cost-effective way to keep you inform of the company’s latest news or specials. This is another technique that is rapidly growing within businesses.
E-mails can also be subpoena and be obtained as part of a civil lawsuit. The government can only get basic information from an e-mail and in order to get further records about the particular e-mail they must have a search warrant but after 180 days no warrant is needed.
“The USA Patriot Act passed by Congress after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and amended in 2006, makes it easier for the government to access records about online activity.” (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse: http://www.privacyrights.org/) This act also grants permission for the government to obtain different types of records from the internet without a court order. We can expect to see more new laws regarding the internet privacy in the future. So for now, when you send an e-mail, keep in mind it’s not only your recipient who will look at it but many other people can too.
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