>You don't need violence or coercion to sniff unencrypted mail in-flight. Google won't hand you a packet capture from eth0 on smtp.gmail.com because you asked

>You don't need violence or coercion to sniff unencrypted mail in-flight. Google won't hand you a packet capture from eth0 on smtp.gmail.com because you asked nicely. You would have to coerce an insider (or exploit your way in). The only situation in which your statement applies is if you're abusing a position of trust as a network administrator. While it's true that this is possible, it's also possible for someone to break into your (postal) mailbox. You still have an expectation of privacy.