| | | For two centuries the privacy of letter mail in the US has been sacrosanct. Inviolable.
What is it about email or phones that the rules change and the government now has the right to monitor all our private conversations? Or any of them? Or order a business to hire people to create what they demand? Really?
No, all that is needed is probable cause and a warrant.
Please see these references:
USPS postal inspectors:
postalinspectors.uspis.gov
From the above link:
4. Can Postal Inspectors open mail if they feel it may contain something illegal?
First-Class letters and parcels are protected against search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, and, as such, cannot be opened without a search warrant. If there is probable cause to believe the contents of a First-Class letter or parcel violate federal law, Postal Inspectors can obtain a search warrant to open the mailpiece. Other classes of mail do not contain private correspondence, and therefore may be opened without a warrant.
The following two websites are not govt, but the information sounds reasonable so I assume probably correct.
legalmatch.com
propublica.org
Also although we might have expectations of privacy, the very way that email is sent is not private - your email is copied (and eventually deleted) from one computer to another, along the way it could be examined. Should it be (no, but still some smelly antisocial nerd can) and are there any laws prohibiting that (someone answer that)? Encryption makes it much more difficult to casually examine your message. That's why you should never send sensitive information such as passwords, bank account numbers, troop movements or that picture of your frolics with your mistress via email without using strong encryption, and even then it could be eventually cracked (no longer "casual" examination).
Back in the old days of email, it was plainly and painfully obvious that your message was passed via a chain of computers - you had to specify that chain "bang path \!" ! Now routing is automatic, and often the routing information is in the header of the email. Some programs can allow you to see the header (In now defunct Eudora - that was just a click of the mouse). |
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