Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!uc!cs.umn.edu!iacovou
From: iacovou@cs.umn.edu (Danny Iacovou)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: Mail security
Message-ID: <1990Aug2.003210.24459@cs.umn.edu>
Date: 2 Aug 90 00:32:10 GMT
References: <899@lot.ACA.MCC.COM>
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept.
Lines: 27


i think that all this talk about postmasters reading mail is rather 'stupid'
(net ethics stopped my from using other phrases).  first of all not only the
postmaster but anyone with root permissions can read your mail. second staff
ethics prevents us from doing so.  i am a postmaster, but i don't go reading
other peoples mail.  sometimes when mail bounces my way i try extremely hard
to make sure i don't scroll the mail past the headers and into the body (i
honestly try not to read a word of mail).  i think that this is probably true
for 99.9999999% of all postmasters (and staff members for that matter).

secondly this point should be obvious to anyone who has been a system admin.
staff members just don't have the time to spend all day reaading mail which
doesn't concern them.  i received 734 pieces of email in july that i felt
were worth keeping.  i read threw three times that much mail each month. i 
don't need to read anymore mail.  (i am 100% sure that other postmasters
have the same problem)

in short anyone who might think that postmasters are around just so that 
they can read mail as it travels threw thier sites is just being 'stupid'
(postmasters are free to replace the stupid with any other words they might
 be thinking of:) ) 

-- 

neophytos iacovou                                
university of minnesota                      email:  iacovou@cs.umn.edu 
computer science department