Exactly, this is for third party access or at least I've assumed for a long time all communications using standard tools have always been open for scrutinity.

Exactly, this is for third party access or at least I've assumed for a long time all communications using standard tools have always been open for scrutinity. It's nothing new either - for as long as there is postal service your mail could be open by order of this or that government oficial. Not even the Pony Express was immune to that ;-) If you want greater secrecy do like the paranoid intel community has been doing since at least the cold war and exchange messages on seemingly disconnected channels - say 2 different newspaper columns, wordpress blogs or even websites made to look like robot-generated SEO spam, using code that was previously agreed in person, with everyone keeping hardcopies if necessary.