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From: gadfly@ihuxn.UUCP (Gadfly)
Newsgroups: net.rumor,net.mail
Subject: Re: Reading other peoples' mail
Message-ID: <1419@ihuxn.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 24-Apr-86 10:18:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxn.1419
Posted: Thu Apr 24 10:18:20 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 27-Apr-86 06:41:58 EDT
References: <1921@decwrl.DEC.COM> <197@valid.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
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Xref: watmath net.rumor:2073 net.mail:1528

--
[A discussion between Phil Ngai & me on privacy of e-mail]

> >You have a moral responsibility, Phil.  The very concept of mail
> >assumes privacy between sender and receiver.  You know that.
> 
> Nonsense. UUCP mail has always been unreliable and insecure.  Don't go
> comparing UUCP mail with USmail.  If you don't like the (free) service
> my site provides, don't use it. I didn't ask you to send mail through
> my site. I didn't set it up as a relay site. Relaying happens by default
> and it would be an effort to turn it off.

The comparison is valid.  The contents of UUCP mail, like US mail,
are assumed to be confidential.  The mail may get lost or munged--it
often does--but it is not written for public dissemination.

> >I'm glad you "don't make a practice" of reading mail.  You should,
> >as a generic upstanding human being, promise that you won't.
> 
> You missed my point that as a system admin one can not promise not to.
> But then, you probably don't know anything about running a system
> anyway.
> 
>  Phil Ngai +1 408 749 5720

I was vague in my use of the word "promise".  Having been a system
administrator a few years back, I'm well aware of the lengths you
go to in putting broken files and file systems back together.
Analogously, postal workers certainly have to read pieces of letters
that were inadvertently shredded in order to put them back together
as best they can.  I do not consider this a violation of privacy.

When these accidents happen, what you are reading is not exactly
mail.  Also by analogy, letters fall out of envelopes, addresses get
erased or smeared, etc.  The promise refers to an intention to
maintain the sender-receiver privacy.  Aiding in the delivery or
return of the mail, or examining parts of it during the recovery of
your system's resources, clearly does not violate that intention.
It's a promise not to be knowingly malicious.  I didn't think there'd
be much debate about that.

You are correct that you didn't ask for this headache, that you
never told anyone they could send mail through your site, and that they
are not paying for the service.  I maintain, however, that you have
moral obligations beyond the sum total of those things you have entered
into contracts for, moral obligations to people you don't even know.
I'm sure you feel that way too, or haven't you ever given to charities?
-- 
                    *** ***
JE MAINTIENDRAI   ***** *****
                 ****** ******  24 Apr 86 [5 Floreal An CXCIV]
ken perlow       *****   *****
(312)979-7753     ** ** ** **
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