E-mail may be private, but not always

Computers are like guns. As inanimate objects, they are ultimately benign and controlled by the nearest human being. And when people are involved, there is the possibility for serious damage.

A recent news report told of how in 2006 the FBI received permission to monitor an individual account. The Internet service provider was eager to comply — so eager that it routed e-mails to the FBI from the entire domain, including the subject of scrutiny. The FBI ultimately realized the mistake after its servers couldn't handle the increased volume of messages.

Most probably, this mail contained a mixture of jokes, junk and details about people significant only to their friends and family. Chances are, the FBI guys waded through a few hours of this stuff and said "enough, already." The situation gives some people a creepy feeling, about how the government tramples our rights and how we are so much closer to "1984," "Brave New World" and other futuristic nightmares.

I can't say for sure, because I don't work for the government, but it seems our privacy is pretty safe for now. The state has little interest in what we say or do online. It doesn't have the resources to track it, and the threat level is low. Even if the FBI were trying to maul our rights, it could find more effective ways to do so than watch our e-mail. The spooks must also realize that any terrorist smart enough to be a real threat knows enough to use a secure connection.

Some may see this viewpoint as a naive underreaction and a failure to recognize a danger. Not so. I would use this and any other forum at my disposal to sound the alarm about any deliberate violations of our right to privacy, such as opening personal correspondence. This case represents people being overzealous or careless. There is no malice here.

Those people whose privacy was violated here won't have the opportunity to feel violated since the name of the particular domain has not been made public. Here, the paranoids of the world can wonder if their mail has been read by some faceless agency, and wonder what part of their private life was compromised. They will then either change their behavior or rail endlessly about the necessity to do so.

In fact, no significant change is required, other than a perceptual adjustment that should have occurred from the beginning. E-mail is private conversation but not on the same level as a personal letter or even a phone call. Rather, the expectation of privacy resembles a walk down the avenue as you carry on a personal conversation with a friend (or even yourself). There is a chance it can be overheard and taken out of context.

So despite all the technological advances since the beginning of time, one thing remains unchanged: The only way to guarantee absolute privacy is with a personal conversation that is out of anyone else's earshot.

If you have questions or suggestions for Charles Bermant, you can contact him by e-mail at cbermant@seattletimes.com. Type Inbox in the subject field. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists.