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Uhh... In the postal system, your message is generally encapsulated in a tamper-evident envelope, carried in locked cars and trucks that enjoy Federal protecti

Uhh... In the postal system, your message is generally encapsulated in a tamper-evident envelope, carried in locked cars and trucks that enjoy Federal protection against intrusion, and end up in mailboxes that are almost always on private property and/or locked.

varjag 14y ago
You can unglue an envelope over steam or on a hot surface. That's beside the point though. People in general expect their mail correspondence to remain private, although a motivated third party might be able to defeat security.
- Domenic_S 14y ago
  They expect their (physical) mail to remain private because there's a massive legal framework that protects it. There's an entire section of US code regarding the operation and authority of the post office (title 39) and a whole mess of criminal code about protecting the mail (in title 18). http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/privacy-policy/intelligent-mail-privacy.htm#H7 http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/privacy-policy/intelligent-...
  - yew 14y ago
    So we can expect our email to be protected after we've successfully lobbied for the establishment of a massive legal framework that protects it, then?
  - Contero 14y ago
    So clearly similar laws should exist to protect email, encrypted or not.
nathan_long 14y ago
>> In the postal system, your message is generally encapsulated in a tamper-evident envelope... Those are all mechanisms, not legal protections. All could be bypassed by a determined person. In both email and physical mail, someone else can secretly read your mail if they try hard enough. In both, you expect them not to. In both, we have the same question: should the government need a warrant to violate that expectation? I can plant a secret microphone in your house. That doesn't mean I have a right to.
- Domenic_S 14y ago
  No, they are legal protections, and mechanisms created and used in furtherance of the legal protections. http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/privacy-policy/intelligent-mail-privacy.htm#H7 http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/privacy-policy/intelligent-...

varjag 14y ago

You can unglue an envelope over steam or on a hot surface. That's beside the point though. People in general expect their mail correspondence to remain private, although a motivated third party might be able to defeat security.

Domenic_S 14y ago
They expect their (physical) mail to remain private because there's a massive legal framework that protects it. There's an entire section of US code regarding the operation and authority of the post office (title 39) and a whole mess of criminal code about protecting the mail (in title 18). http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/privacy-policy/intelligent-mail-privacy.htm#H7 http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/privacy-policy/intelligent-...
- yew 14y ago
  So we can expect our email to be protected after we've successfully lobbied for the establishment of a massive legal framework that protects it, then?
- Contero 14y ago
  So clearly similar laws should exist to protect email, encrypted or not.

nathan_long 14y ago

>> In the postal system, your message is generally encapsulated in a tamper-evident envelope... Those are all mechanisms, not legal protections. All could be bypassed by a determined person. In both email and physical mail, someone else can secretly read your mail if they try hard enough. In both, you expect them not to. In both, we have the same question: should the government need a warrant to violate that expectation? I can plant a secret microphone in your house. That doesn't mean I have a right to.

Domenic_S 14y ago
No, they are legal protections, and mechanisms created and used in furtherance of the legal protections. http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/privacy-policy/intelligent-mail-privacy.htm#H7 http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/privacy-policy/intelligent-...