> There has never, ever been any expectation set that internet email is private.
When I send an email to somebody, I do expect that no human other than the recipient will read it, and that automated processes do not attempt to divulge meaning from its contents past that required for advertising (and that data is used for no reason other than advertising).
I expect that it might be read by the police with a warrant, as with anything else. I also expect that any post I send might be read by the police with a warrant - resealing an envelope is actually easy, and worst case scenario, they could simply use another envelope and copy the addresses and stamps, and I'd be none the wiser.
The technical ability to read my email has little/nothing to do with my expectation of privacy. Technically, someone could read all my mail with ease (it gets delivered to my apartment's hallway where anybody could pick it up), but I still expect that people will not do that. They could also read RF emissions from my apartment to figure out what I'm typing just now, and IIRC that's a violation of privacy.
I get it, it's 2015 and paper mail feels old hat. So waving away and dismissing concerns about the vulnerability of email feels like the right thing.
Do you affirmatively know that every email that you've ever sent isn't an account managed by a third party (like an employer) whom the recipient has ceded (or shares) control of their mailbox to?
Any employer can trivially read email, and many do so routinely. Most people allow for the sharing of devices in the household... So the spouse and kids can probably access the computer pretty trivially. That's two trivial examples that doesn't involve spy stuff or conspiracy theory.
You cannot access postal mail without a warrant or physically stealing the mail. Once received, you can physically destroy or secure it.
> Do you affirmatively know that every email that you've ever sent isn't an account managed by a third party (like an employer) whom the recipient has ceded (or shares) control of their mailbox to?
They could also send my post to them off to a processor for whatever reason. When I give my personal details to my ISP, they could sell them to advertisers. I expect that they will not, and feel violated when they do.
> Any employer can trivially read email, and many do so routinely.
If I'm sending an email to a UK employee, they in fact cannot legally do so in the general case - doubly so if it's a personal email.
> So waving away and dismissing concerns about the vulnerability of email feels like the right thing.
No, but there's a point to be made that just because something is possible and easy does not mean it should be legal or even right, nor that people should expect it to happen. If it were something I really wanted kept secret, I'd encrypt it - but most things I email are, while not things I would necessarily want public, not life-destroyingly secret either.
I don't expect or want to be tracked everywhere I go in public either, but I don't wear a mask to ensure I can't be. On the other hand, perhaps I might want to do so in some circumstances because the stakes are higher.
When I send an email to somebody, I do expect that no human other than the recipient will read it, and that automated processes do not attempt to divulge meaning from its contents past that required for advertising (and that data is used for no reason other than advertising).
I expect that it might be read by the police with a warrant, as with anything else. I also expect that any post I send might be read by the police with a warrant - resealing an envelope is actually easy, and worst case scenario, they could simply use another envelope and copy the addresses and stamps, and I'd be none the wiser.
The technical ability to read my email has little/nothing to do with my expectation of privacy. Technically, someone could read all my mail with ease (it gets delivered to my apartment's hallway where anybody could pick it up), but I still expect that people will not do that. They could also read RF emissions from my apartment to figure out what I'm typing just now, and IIRC that's a violation of privacy.