Is e-mail private, or in the public domain?
Many years ago — the early 1980s to be exact — I was working for a high-tech firm that was just installing e-mail into all our offices. It was amazing to be able to send computer-based messages to everyone in the building and, eventually, to our other locations. One day, I received a message about something-or-other from the system administrator. I was surprised to find that she had inadvertently (at least I hope it was inadvertent) attached a document containing the username and password of everyone in our building, from the director on down to the mailroom personnel. Being the ethical person that I am, I contemplated the mischief that I could do, but dutifully informed her of the security breach so we could engage in a flurry of password-changing throughout the organization. However, I learned a valuable lesson at an early stage — be very careful what you put into e-mails, because you never know where they will go or how long they will endure. The point was driven home again to me
