Do you think that the government is reading your e-mail?

I doubt it. But I'm sure they have filters for specific words or topics in some of the Government departments that deal with National Security Issues.

I have not reached the state of paranoia that would make me think that out of 300,000,000 people they are watching ME.

I would hope that they have better things to do with our tax money than check up which particular Nigerian dignitry thinks I'm worthy of respect and whether I've taken up that 10% off viagra offer yet.

NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice,and certainly without probable cause.

They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection
save to call for the impeachment of the current "President."

I really doubt that the government is reading my email. Do you realize how much email gets sent every day? Even if every government employee was put on the job, I doubt that they could read every single email that is sent, let alone do all of the other things that the government has to do.

**************
"The Trotskyist Pantaloons: Yes, but perhaps there is something about your emails that draws their attention."

I very much doubt it. There is nothing even potentially subversive about the contents of my email.

**************
"I agree with Glenn :-) We are bit paranoid these days... However, it could be possible at some point emails get scanned very quickly looking for key words that would flag them as an email of interest."

Actually, if I remember correctly, the Clinton administration instituted a program to do just that.

Having worked for the Government, I know full well they don't take the time to read their OWN email, much less anyone else's. ^_^

Probably. I suspected that all online activity is being monitored.

I do believe some governments are monitoring emails in an automated way, looking for key words. The ones that raise flags might be getting read. But more people who have sensitive things to say are not sending these messages in the clear (in other words, they're encrypting them).

I know for a fact that they read mine... but, of course, I do work for them... so I guess they are entitled to see what I'm doing with my government email address! :)

I wouldn't be surprised if it was being scanned on some level, but I doubt the algorithms used to asses threat would have kicked any of my emails up to the level where a human is actually reading.

I certainly hope not! I'd hate for them to find out about the Richard Simmons Dissent conspiracy.

Probably.

I had some people in the US tapping into my laptop for over a month - I gave up trying to stop them - perhaps it was due to the political websites I have been on.

i wouldnt put it past them, but if they are, it just shows the lack of concern to the bigger matters like the war, or the homeless, etc.

No. Not at <george bush is great> all. They would have <there are WMD's> no reason to...<our economy is fine>

I think they got bored with those and headed over to the photo section :)

If they are, they're going to need some pretty strong coffee to stay awake. Lately it's been quite boring. <yaaaawn>

First of all, All of the paranoid people out there. Look at how the internet works, All traffic isn't routed through some central location, The internet is decentralized, Theres no way someone could tap ALL connections, without tapping all the ISPs.

Your ISP being tapped by the NSA is about the only thing that they could be using to 'read' your email.

If you have something you need to hide, Use a WAP and common sense, or use encryption and common sense.

no, I would feel sorry for them if they did...they wouldn't find it too interesting...although some of the jokes that come through are great. :-)

I'm not that interesting or paranoid either one. No, I highly doubt it.

Yes that is why the DMV employs so many people but is still so inefficient, those extra people are actually in the DMV basement reading your emails.

Probably.

Reading? Probably not, saving? Yes. A former worker at AT&T admitted helping set up a room that literally filers ALL content and saves it to a server at their headquarters. They aren't watching what you're doing in real time, but they are saving it to be filtered, and read later. Not to say they are saving all the websites and images, rather they are saving the ip addresses of all the websites you visit.

http://www.teleclick.ca/2006/04/internet-privacy-lawsuit-gets-help-from-former-att-employee/
(source above, includes more, credible sources)

No, I don't think so. It would be a waste of time. Sometimes it's a waste of time even when I myself do it.

If they are, the person assigned to me is horribly bored...

Text messages on the other hand can get interesting lol...

If they are, they have found out that I need a bigger penis, I should apply for a government grant, my Charter Cable bill is due, I have a lot of friends who send me silly and amusing email forwards, I belong to the Columbia House TV club and the Disney Movie Club, I have a Zooba account, I have a life insurance policy for each of my son's children, I am e-filing my income taxes, someone wants to date me on some dating sites, I should apply for a credit card. Have I left anything out? Well, now everyone who reads this will know what I'm up to, so they can just stop monitoring me now. I'm much too boring to the government, I hope.

Do me a favor Cousin Vinny. We're neighbors I live in Northeast Philly. If I ever become so paranoid that I begin to suspect the government is reading my e mails ask me for my address them come over with a shotgun and blow my brains out for me.


If I become so paranopid that I believe the government is watching my every move then life as I know it is no longer worth living.

Of course! I think the government is HORRIBLY interested in what my nieces are doing at their grandma's house and what my girlfriend and I are doing for Thanksgiving....

reading no, scanning for keywords, yes.

Maybe if its suspicious enough to do so.......M.C.S.

Not at home but within the Local Area Network in the Federal Gov't. There are people who's job is do this on a daily basis -- Monitoring for any suspicious activity

It would only be a random glance. And they wouldn't find anything of interest, anyway. I don't even concern myself. Hell, I used to work for them. I was uniformed, but I know the proceedure. They are looking for much bigger, dangerous fish. I would even help find them.

There is no point in it reading my email as most of it is a load of rubbish - so i do not really care if it is or isn't.
However, I think the government has better things to do than read emails, its meant to run the country, and it really isn't that great at doing that. I suppose reading emails could be an excuse they might give.

Government
has no time to peep into private matters of persons.
But there are provisions where emails can be read or traced.
For example during an enquiry.
the email is traced read .
the system from where it was sent its IP is known.
then the system is traced. nad finally going to the systems history. the time when the mail was sent can be obtained. finally after some enquiry the person who was on the system for that period can be traced.
But its a prolonged process .
its not followed untill and unless the mail is of national or international impotance.

Yes, absolutely

maybe i could get them to delete all of my spam for me. hey anyone want a authenic replica viagra watch and hair growing formula

they may be reading some of certani people they have to keep an eye on - such as criminals - but there would never be enough time and people - and there are more important things to be reading evry1s mail :) :)

No,
but they are very welcome to read Mondays ,I got 157 copies of the same email about a very boring answer from AB

i dont think there would b a point, because all my emails are either from myspace or AB. LOLL

Hey how do we know george bush isnt on AB? he could be .. ANY ONE OF US! AHHHHHHHHHHHh

Ok a little dramatracic. sorry i dont know how to spell that word

No !

If they were ... I would be in trouble for the most and biggest anti government slurs ...

I can tell you for a fact they could if they wanted to. With a warrant, they could retrieve all of your information... web history, downloads, email etc from your ISP.

They will be very bored if they read mine LOL

If they can then they are, but they clearly have too much free time in that case

I know that they could do if they wanted to, but I don't think they are reading mine, not much point.

def. they are. same with cellphone calls, and messages

I run an ISP, and I can guarantee that nobody reads my email, plus I use PGP encryption.

They dont need to. They are reading my thoughts

The sheer volume of employees it would take to read all of our emails, with specific code words being flagged or not, would be tremendous. Have you ever ran across someone who said that they read private emails for the government? I haven't. If they did, they wouldn't have to set up "sting sites" (fake sites to fish out people) just to catch evil child pornographers. I do, however, believe that there are certain websites (such as, legalizemarijuana.com, or howtobuildabomb.com) that will flag a user as a threat to national security. They probably put spyware on users' computers when you visit certain sites and watch you for a little while to see what you are up to.

They probably are. I bet all my penis enlargement emails are really supposed to be going to top government officals!

I really dont think they do, mainly because it is theoretically impossible to read every single e-mail that gets sent every day, every e-mail sent in 1 hour must outnumber how many people work in the goverment anyway.

So no, out of 6.5billion people living on the earth today, i dont think the goverment care about my emails.

Not probably reading them. But all Emails probably are run through a filter program that looks for keywords like BOMB or ASSASINATE......... Ooops! Gotta go!!!!