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From: good@pixar ("Pravda nyet isvetsia, Isvetsia nyet pravda")
Newsgroups: net.rumor,net.mail
Subject: Re: Reading other peoples' mail
Message-ID: <2744@pixar.pixar>
Date: Tue, 29-Apr-86 23:05:39 EDT
Article-I.D.: pixar.2744
Posted: Tue Apr 29 23:05:39 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 2-May-86 22:06:07 EDT
References: <1921@decwrl.DEC.COM> <197@valid.UUCP>
Reply-To: good@pixar.UUCP ("Pravda nyet isvetsia, Isvetsia nyet pravda")
Organization: Pixar -- Marin County, California
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Xref: watmath net.rumor:2093 net.mail:1532


	Assuming that uucp mail is private seems extremely naive to me.  Not
that I, as a sysadmin, go deliberately poking through mail.  I don't think
that administrators *should* read mail unless they have to (for any of the
reasons already mentioned in this debate).  But I never send anything
confidential via uucp, and I hope nobody else does.  It's got to be just
asking for trouble.

	Someone said that e-mail should be treated like US Mail.  In the case
of uucp I think the more correct analogy is CB radio, as mentioned by another
author.  Uucp uses a "free", decidedly anarchistic network to disseminate the
mail.  There is no mechanism to guarantee privacy nor delivery.  In contrast,
for example, Pixar rents an electronic "mail box" from MCI Mail.  We pay for
the service, and use MCI's organized network to send and receive e-mail and
telexes, etc.  In that case I feel we can reasonably expect and insist on
privacy in our communications.

	The lesson for usenet users should be that confidential material should
not be sent via uucp -- unless you are hoping it will leak.  But that is yet
another discussion...


-- 
		--Craig
		...{ucbvax,sun}!pixar!good