Re: FIDOnet encryption (or lack thereof)

[Al Billings <mimir@u.washington.edu>]

On Thu, 30 Sep 1993, Mike Godwin wrote:

> Bill writes:
> 
> > Heh.  OK.  Well, if one behaves "ethically", then I guess *that* closes
> > the issue.  It's his machine and he gets to make the rules.  (this is
> > my personally-adhered-to point of view)
> 
> My question is this: how does he know that the mail is encrypted if he's
> not examining the mail that passes through his system? If he *is*
> examining the mail that passes through his system, it seems likely that he
> is violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

 Only if he has stated that he allows private mail. Most sysops have
specifically worded policy statements for their systems that say that the
sysop can read any and all messages on the system and may do so at any
time. Bulletin boards do not normally offer truely private mail because of
some of the legal implications.