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From: phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: net.mail
Subject: Re: Reading other peoples' mail
Message-ID: <11467@amdcad.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 24-Apr-86 20:47:53 EST
Article-I.D.: amdcad.11467
Posted: Thu Apr 24 20:47:53 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 26-Apr-86 05:42:39 EST
References: <1921@decwrl.DEC.COM> <197@valid.UUCP>
Reply-To: phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai)
Organization: AMD, Sunnyvale, California
Lines: 41

In article <1451@ecsvax.UUCP> bch@ecsvax.UUCP (Byron C. Howes) writes:
>In article <168@dione.rice.EDU> salex@iapetus.rice.edu writes:
>
>>If you rely on any utility of mail being private, especially if it
>>goes through machines not controlled by sender or recipient, you are
>>fooling yourself.
>
>I don't rely on it being private.  I do rely on it being unmolested by
>other Systems Administrators.  Mail's utility is predicated on it being
>as reliable as the network will allow.

Sounds like you agree there. I agree too. Except that if reliability
is important to you, you should set up a direct link. Don't complain
about other people when you have the most direct means of solving the
problem. Especially when the other people are doing you a favor by
relaying your mail.

>> It has been my observation that
>>all mail administrators that I have dealt with have very few qualms
>>about reading others mail.  Perhaps, it shouldn't be that way, but
>>it's not going to change any more quickly than any of the other
>>problems which result from a system of decentralized control of the
>>network.
>
>I'm sorry that's the case.  *I* figure my users have some right to
>privacy.  For those SAs that go out of their way to read mail, I hope
>they read something about themselves.  

I'm not sure but I think Scott meant that mail admins read mail going
through their machine. As far as I'm concerned, my machine is there
for my users and they have a right to as much privacy as can
reasonably be given. (if they leave a temporary file in /tmp and I
need to clean out /tmp, I'll read it before rm'ing it.)  But people
who send mail *through* my machine have no rights to privacy.

-- 
 Cats are alien beings sent here to sit on our cars.

 Phil Ngai +1 408 749 5720
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