At 18:26 03/14/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Ingrid H. Shafer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> At the same time I am deeply disturbed that my correspondent
>> violated an essential principle of netiquette, NOT to forward
>> private messages!  Surely all of us have at times said something
>> concerning another which we would rather not have that other see.
>
>I don't share the assumption that my mail will not be forwarded.  I
>write e-mail assuming that the person about whom I'm writing will
>ultimately see it.  While I agree in principle that the author of mail
>should control its distribution, Ingrid, I see too many cultural
>disagreements to depend on that being the rule.
>
 
This is true. My catchphrase to users is "don't email anything you wouldn't
be willing to see on the front page of the newspaper." While extreme, I know
of one case where exactly this happened.
The point is, it's not just about people forwarding personal emails (yes,
that's impolite enough), but also that there are so many cases of emailing
to the wrong address, the rcvg end's files being shuffled through, etc. Now
that the CDA is in effect, I won't be surprised if I find out some smaller
ISP's are trying to spot check every piece of data that runs through their
server...
 
Email is never private. Best you can do is PGP.
 
Philo