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_gail
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From: So FL
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Ethical question: reading other' s forum email - 7/23/2003 19:42:06
I note that via the administrative control panel of the Invision Power Board it allows administrators to view and read mail that is sent from the forum itself to other participants.  I have no idea if other BB programs have this feature. I' ve been told by the co-administrator, who installed the forum, that the intended purpose is to let Admin see if anyone is using the forum to spam members.
Question: if administrators are able to read people' s personal email, shouldn' t we let them know!?
thanks, gail
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Spooky
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RE: Ethical question: reading other' s forum email - 7/23/2003 19:51:49
With any script based email, there is a potential to capture it and place it in storage for future reference.
When posting with asp / cgi, via a web based interface (for example, our forum, hotmail, yahoo etc) ALL have the ability to do that if they wish.
In saying that, we certainly dont and have no need or intention to do so.
However, from an ethical stand point, yes, it should be stated in the terms and conditions that the operators have that ability IF it is built into the system. Unfortunately, its probably already stated in the fineprint relating to the use of the BB (but perhaps given a fuzzy meaning)
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Doug G
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RE: Ethical question: reading other' s forum email - 7/24/2003 2:00:20
quote:
Question: if administrators are able to read people' s personal email, shouldn' t we let them know!?
Typically the server administrator of any email server has the ability to read any email that goes through their server. I have a couple qmail servers and anyone with root access can read any mail that is sent or received by the mail server. In most cases I don' t think people are explicitly informed of this fact, I know I' ve never heard this from any ISP or host that provides me with EMail.
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abbeyvet
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RE: Ethical question: reading other' s forum email - 7/24/2003 6:09:51
All of which reinforces the fact that email is NOT a secure means of communication.
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Katherine
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Cpt. Mucus
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RE: Ethical question: reading other' s forum email - 7/29/2003 10:28:20
Hey folks, who believes that there is any LAN, WAN, etc. where administrators can' t read personal e-mails. What would be the point of admin access if then some things are hidden? Remember, on root server level it can also be read, or am I wrong
< Message edited by Cpt. Mucus -- 7/29/2003 10:28:46 AM >
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_gail
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RE: Ethical question: reading other' s forum email - 7/29/2003 10:42:38
quote:
Hey folks, who believes that there is any LAN, WAN, etc. where administrators can' t read personal e-mails. What would be the point of admin access if then some things are hidden?
The point is not whether administrators can but that users should be informed.
If administrators have the ability to read personal email, people who use the email system have every right to be informed about that fact, up front and without question, imho!
gail
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Reflect
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RE: Ethical question: reading other' s forum email - 7/29/2003 11:45:49
quote:
The point is not whether administrators can but that users should be informed.
Can' t agree more. I am privy to around 35K mailbox' s here. When a new user starts they sign a form making them aware of this and that it can be used against them in a court of law.
Brian
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abbeyvet
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RE: Ethical question: reading other' s forum email - 7/29/2003 12:09:14
I think people should know this, but I can see problems with putting a notice to that effect on a website.
The fact is that every email you send, anyway, from within a forum, from a webmail system, via your ISP or local network or whatever, can potentially be read by some sys admin somewhere. Often by several along the way.
But people are not aware of this, or if they are it is somewhere in the deep recesses of their minds and they never think about it.
Thus if you post a notice to that effect on a site, it seems very off putting, like it is a situation peculiar to you. It would really need to be worded well to make it clear that it is a general and not a specific situation.
Personally I would probably cop out here and stick it in the terms and conditions somewhere, in the knowledge that hardly anyone ever reads them but you are covered.
In reality who would bother? Unless there was a problem with someone and in that case the problem is greater than this anyway and the terms have you covered.
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_gail
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RE: Ethical question: reading other' s forum email - 7/29/2003 12:34:56
You point out some of the issues I' ve been struggling with in my mind, Katherine. As forum administrators we have absolutely no intention of reading anyone' s mail. As I said, I just stumbled upon this because I' ve been taking a look at the administrative area of the new board and was blown away when I saw this capablity. I sent myself a test email from the forum....and sure enough!
Perhaps somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind I may have known about it but not consciously. Graduating from such ignorance has made me feel very uncomfortable.
The other administrator and I briefly spoke about the concern that if we mention it, some folk might discontinue using forum and we certainly do not want to discourage use! The forum is for a group where many people are friends, where the tendency might be to write something personal.
Still, in the unlikely but certainly possible event that someone finds out, I' d be very concerned if we hadn' t disclosed the information somewhere.
I agree, it shouldn' t be in a newsflasher or huge announcement. I feel the terms and condition area is appropriate. Unless, of course, we can disable the feature altogether.
gail
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Cyprus
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RE: Ethical question: reading other' s forum email - 7/29/2003 14:18:01
I remember where I used to work, the lan administrator had said to the President of the companies secretary in an arguement to show his power " I can read the Presidents email!" . The whole thing just exploded from that because everyone was so shocked that he could read peoples email, even though he was in charge of email!
Well anyway, every email that or message that you send on the internet is readable by somebody. That' s just a fact, it has to happen that way. Whether it' s hotmail.com or on some forum. I think the bigger question is " does anybody care to read your messages????" . I doubt anybody is immature enough or has the time to look through everyones private messages.
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Gil
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RE: Ethical question: reading other' s forum email - 7/29/2003 15:10:44
quote:
gail:
After all these years Gil, I should know how to interpret some of your replies. I don' t get what you' re saying here.
LOL - All I was saying is if someone is the " Administrator" of course they can. If they didn' t have that ability, they couldn' t " administer" .
I can' t believe any one could not possibly understand that.
quote:
Cyprus:
every email that or message that you send on the internet is readable by somebody. That' s just a fact, it has to happen that way.
Exactly...
< Message edited by Gil -- 7/29/2003 3:11:31 PM >
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_gail
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RE: Ethical question: reading other' s forum email - 7/29/2003 19:48:13
quote:
Unfortunately, its probably already stated in the fineprint relating to the use of the BB (but perhaps given a fuzzy meaning)
quote:
In most cases I don' t think people are explicitly informed of this fact, I know I' ve never heard this from any ISP or host that provides me with EMail.
quote:
can potentially be read by some sys admin somewhere. Often by several along the way.
But people are not aware of this, or if they are it is somewhere in the deep recesses of their minds and they never think about it.
quote:
The whole thing just exploded from that because everyone was so shocked that he could read peoples email, even though he was in charge of email!
quote:
About 2/3 of people are shocked that emails are not totally private . It' s just never occurred to them. The ' shocked' percentage are basically ordinary computer users, the ' unshocked' are a bit more tech savy.
Fuzzy indeed. I rest my case.
gail
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I don' t get what you' re saying here. 
. It' s just never occurred to them. The ' shocked' percentage are basically ordinary computer users, the ' unshocked' are a bit more tech savy. 