Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 17:55:32 -0800
From: Andre Bacard
Subject: E-Mail Privacy FAQ
*** Frequently Asked Questions About E-Mail Privacy ***
by
Andre Bacard, Author of>
THE COMPUTER PRIVACY HANDBOOK
[Version February 25, 1995]
============================================================
This article offers a nontechnical overview of possible
threats to YOUR e-mail privacy, and it suggest two key
steps that you can take to guard your privacy. I have
written this especially for persons with a sense of
humor. You may distribute this (unaltered) FAQ for non-
commercial purposes.
===========================================================
Can people (secretly) read your e-mail?
Very likely yes. Most electronic mail is notoriously
UNPRIVATE. E-mail is less secure, and in many ways more
dangerous, than sending your personal or business
messages on a postcard.
Who secretly reads your e-mail?
A MACWORLD survey found that roughly 25% of the
businesses contacted admitted that they eavesdrop on
employee computer files, e-mail, or voice mail. This 25%
excludes unauthorized e-mail monitoring. When I asked a
Silicon Valley C.E.O. if he uses e-mail, he said: "Hell
no, Andre. Half the nerds in my company can hack e-mail.
E-mail is a party line!"
Internet e-mail, the kind that brought you this FAQ, is
child's play for some people to intercept. Your typical
e-mail message travels through many computers. At each
computer, people can access your personal and business
correspondence.
It's a safe bet that administrators (not to mention
hackers) on Bulletin Board Systems, college campus
systems, commercial information services, and Internet
hook-up providers can read your e-mail. Of course most
snoops will deny they're reading your e-mail because they
want to continue doing so.
Doesn't my password protect me?
Charles Piller, in his excellent article entitled "Bosses
With X-Ray Eyes," reports on a study MACWORLD made of
Macintosh software. Here is part of Piller's conclusion:
"All the major electronic-mail and groupware products
that combine messaging, file management, and scheduling
(such as WordPerfect Office) allow the network
administrator to change passwords at any time, then read,
delete, or alter any messages on the server. With few
exceptions, network-monitor programs such as AG Group's
LocalPeek, Farallon Computing's Traffic Watch II, and
Neon Software's NetMinder, allow astute managers to read
files transmitted over the net. In short, these tools are
only slightly less invasive than others specifically
designed for surveillance and used primarily on mainframe
systems."
Unix, Dos and other software networks are just as easy
for administrators to manipulate. Who is to stop your
Internet hook-up provider or any network supervisor from
using or distributing your password?
What motivates a snoop?
Maybe he's a thief who sells company business plans or
customer lists. Perhaps she's the office intriguer trying
to play people against you. Possibly he's a computer
stalker like the fellow who shot actress Rebecca Schaffer
to death. Conceivably she's a blackmailer. Maybe he's an
old-fashioned voyeur. Information is power. Snoops want
power.
Whatsamatter, I've got nothing to hide. Why do I need e-mail
privacy?
Show me an e-mail user who has no financial, sexual,
social, political, or professional secrets to keep from
his family, his neighbors, or his colleagues, and I'll
show you someone who is either an extraordinary
exhibitionist or an incredible dullard. Show me a
corporation that has no trade secrets or confidential
records, and I'll show you a business that is not very
successful.
Robert Ellis Smith, Publisher of the PRIVACY JOURNAL,
quips, "An employee with nothing to hide may well be an
employee with nothing to offer."
Privacy, discretion, confidentiality, and prudence are
hallmarks of civilization.
OK, maybe I could use e-mail privacy. What can I do?
There are two big, practical steps that you can take.
First, use PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) software to encrypt
your e-mail (and computer files) so that snoops cannot
read them. PGP is the de facto world standard software
for e-mail security. Second, use anonymous remailers to
send e-mail to network news groups or to persons so that
the recipient (and snoops) cannot tell your real name or
e-mail address.
Where can I learn more about these privacy tools?
Two excellent places to start are the Usenet news groups
alt.security.pgp and alt.privacy.anon-server.
Also, I've written two FAQs, one about Pretty Good
Privacy and the other about Anonymous Remailers. To
receive them, write:
To: abacard@well.com
Subject: Send PGP & Remailer FAQs
Message: [ignored]
[Almost everyone who writes me wants both FAQs. Thus, I
send them together. If I'm out of town, I'll e-mail you
when I return.]
Anything else I should know?
YOUR privacy and safety are in danger! The black market
price for your IRS records is $500. YOUR medical records
are even cheaper. Prolific bank, credit and medical
databases, the Clipper Chip Initiative, computer matching
programs, cordless & cellular phone scanners, Digital
Telephony legislation, and (hidden) video surveillance
are just a few factors that threaten every law abiding
citizen. Our anti-privacy society gives criminals and
snoops computer data about YOU on a silver platter.
If you want to protect your privacy, I urge you to join
organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation
and Computer Professionals for
Social Responsibility .
***************************************************************
Andre Bacard Bacard wrote "The Computer Privacy
Box 3009 Handbook: A Practical Guide to E-Mail
Stanford, CA 94309 Encryption, Data Protection, and PGP
abacard@well.com Privacy Software" [for novices/experts].
Introduction by Mitchell Kapor, Co-Founder of Electronic Frontier
Foundation and Creator of Lotus 1-2-3.
Book Available Spring 1995. Write for Details
[Bacard has been interviewed on hundreds of radio-talk shows about
his previous book ("Hunger for Power"), technology, and society.]
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