[PLUG-TALK] Google asserts you have no expectation of privacy in your email

Denis Heidtmann denis.heidtmann at gmail.com
Wed Aug 14 04:37:38 UTC 2013


On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 5:52 PM, Ronald Chmara <ronabop at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 4:42 PM, Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com>wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 13 Aug 2013, Michael Rasmussen wrote:
>>
>> >
>> http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/google-tells-court-you-cannot-expect-privacy-when-sending-messages-gmail-people-who-care
>> > If you want privacy get your own email platform.
>>
>>    That's interesting, Michael. I've always assumed that mail stored on
>> someone's server (whether Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft) was subject to
>> compromise, but not necessarily by the application provider.
>>
>
> Compromise? It was given to a third party. They can then do with it as
> they wish. You're not giving your mail to a mailman, a registered federal
> employee, you're giving it to a cut-rate courier service with no guarantee
> of delivery.
>
>
>>    The last paragraph seems weak since the Post Office scans the front of
>> every letter sent through its system and stores the image so they know to
>> whom we send an envelop. At least we can expect that they do not open the
>> envelopes before sending them on.
>> <http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-talk>
>>
>
> Background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stored_Communications_Act
>
> In short, there is a much lower expectation of privacy for external
> access, and almost none for internal access.
>


> -Ronabop
>
>
Yet the summary in the wikipedia article you cite says: "The SCA creates
Fourth Amendment-like privacy protection for email and other digital
communications stored on the internet. It limits the ability of the
government to compel an ISP to turn over content information and noncontent
information (such as logs and "envelope" information from email). In
addition, it limits the ability of commercial ISPs to reveal content
information to nongovernment entities."

I think this describes the situation many of us felt was the fact.  The
third party viewing their "business partners" not as nongovernmental
entities is what irks me.

-Denis
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.pdxlinux.org/pipermail/plug-talk/attachments/20130813/7abd597e/attachment.html>


More information about the PLUG-talk mailing list