E-mail Privacy

[Sean Casey]

eifrig at cs.jhu.edu (Jack Eifrig) writes:

|In article <80 at talgras.UUCP> david at talgras.UUCP (David Hoopes) writes:
|>Is it ethical, yes.  I tell all of the users on my systems that I can and will
|>read anything that gets put on the system.  My main reason for doing this is
|>to ensure that they know that mail is not secure.  If I where you I would
|>point out to your boss that e-mail should not be used used for that kind
|>of memo.  I have never gone snooping in users mail ( I have work to do) but
|>I would not hesitate to do so if I had any reason to.

|	"Any reason"?  You mean like mere curiosity?  And you claim this is
|ETHICAL?  It's people like you that make encryption technology necessary.

I'd guess offhand that two-thirds of the computer crimes ever
perpetrated have been motivated by curiosity. And I'm probably
guessing low.

Managers never get curious. Systems programmers have faultless ethics
and would never peek at users mail for thrills. There's no social
dynamics in an office. No bait ever for someone who wants to peek.
Right?

Or look at it another way: Most people think it's okay for someone to
want privacy, and that such a want does not imply guilt. And most
people will say that it is wrong to violate someone's privacy without
extraordinary reasons.

If I own a bus, and make blacks sit in the back, am I ethically
correct because it is *my* bus? Owning the equipment does not make it
right. If it does, it makes any abuse of persons right. One might as
well shoot them in the head.

Sean
-- 
** Sean Casey  <sean at s.ms.uky.edu>