Discussion on:

Why nothing is private: How the FBI can read your emails

Don't keep incriminating emails, delete them. Warrants are common, court orders are less so.

Of course, keep in mind these two are government employees, and employers are effectively required to archive all employee's email. Lesson two: Do not use your employers computer system, not just email but any part of their network, for personal use. You would be amazed at how easy it is to intercept every bit of communication within your company. SSL can be decrypted and the contents captured when you are using your company's computer, even when the little lock is there.

As a system administrator for a major ISP, I can assure you that the moment you decide to use mail services other than your own private mail server, then mail tends to be "backed up" regularly ( for an unspecified, but lengthy intervals ) -- including "deleted" mails. Moreover, if a government agency tips off an ISP that they need to target a user, the entire host of storage devices associated with that account is vaulted and shipped for deep forensic recovery ( of any deleted mail spools too ). In addition, deep packet analyzer tools ( such as "carnivore") are linked with the interface serving the subnet which hosts the account.
Bottom Line: Company or Privately hosted doesn't make a bit of a difference. Short of physically destroying equipment there is no guarantee that any evidence can be purged.

The lesson is don't do things that are illegal. Bottom line is this is no different than the government being able to get a warrant to intercept your physical mail. We want the government to put a stop to crime, but then we yell when they use the tools at their disposal to do so. It doesn't make any sense.

That's if they THINK your doing something wrong, honest person or not, it's still an invasion and WHO knows what there looking at, THEY don't say do they? you may think your safe but your freedom is being chinked away little by little.....

You really mean "Against policy". Like when you go to the gas station for a Coke and the clerk says you need to spent $10 to use your credit card. It's not ILLEGAL for him to require that, it's against Visa/MC policy. Yet, you will find people saying it's illegal.

The point is that at some point we will all be degraded for doing something deemed 'inappropriate' by someone else. Whether it was legal at that time or not is irrelevant, the damage will have been done.
Unfortunately the only way to protect yourself and your family is to leave a very small electronic trail. Why a small trail? Because no trail is considered 'deceptive' and 'probably hiding something'.

Unfortunately, Deleted is NOT gone.

Are you on cloud 9. If you express an opinion, which you are entitled to do so, that doesn't suit somebody in your government i.e. you may express a supportive remark about Iran. Next thing you will have is your authorities banging on your door claiming you are a terrorist. Question, where was the unlawful enterprise you ventured on in this case? There isn't one; it is just you expressing an opinion via email to a friend. If your government want to play "Big Brother" in their 50 States, up to them and the US voters. Keep out of other nationalities email accounts you do not control the world.

When you use e-mail, especially a "free" e-mail service, as well as using Google, Facebook, and other free social sites, you are trading your data for the convenience of using that product. The same with free file-sharing sites.

Even using a paid e-mail service, when you delete a message it's not really deleted; it still exists somewhere. Most companies keep archival data to protect themselves.

When someone calls the FBI to investigate messages you sent, and then the FBI reads the message to determine just cause, and then opens an investigation, they then obtain a legal warrant to search your e-mail history.

There is no privacy on the Intenet; only secrecy.

"Up to no good" means different things to different people. Where it becomes a problem is if they see you looking up things like Investigation 9/11 because you're curious about what really happened and they deem you "up to no good".

Anti-terrorism and National Security are great things, until our Government starts behaving like terrorists and treating its people accordingly in the name of "security".

You can see why the politicians are really worried about this type of activity and are asking for inquiries, which politician will be the next one outed for cheating / lying / stealing ? Neither party is immune and many politicians could lose their jobs if investigations were done.

If our politicians are outed for lying, cheating, stealing I will be happy. We have far too many crooks running this country and they NEED to be rooted out!

The Founders of the US respected people. They believe that a man's property protected his liberty and a man's liberty protected his life. While privacy is not "right" written into the Constitution, it is a generally recognized right today in America. I don't mind people rifling through my emails, especially if it helps solve a crime I didn't commit, but I don't think I want a government with that much power--to search my emails any time with any made up reason granting them a search warrant...

Are we saying that the US Government is limiting it's rifling through emails to US citizens only? If so that is up to the US and it's Founders and Constitution both of which mean nothing to us non Americans. Keep out of the rest of the world's business, manage your own.

The one thing the Petraeus affair points up is the apparent lack of sophistication used by our top spies in covering their tracks. The good news I guess is that just as there are dumb spies there is likely an equal number of dumb crooks. Access to email is a necessary investigatory tool. But the people we really need to fear are more skillful at using the Internet than apparently even the head of the CIA. Even the terror group planning 9/11 used a non-direct means of communications to pass on messages that were encrypted using a non-conventional technique known as steganography. They used a simple application to hide messages in picture files that were then posted on a third party commercial website that had no obvious connection to the terrorists. Greater government control will do nothing to stop this sort of covert communications if it is not also accompanied with better training for investigators who possess the necessary imagination to catch covert code. The Petraeus affair does not exactly inspire confidence that this will happen.

We are constantly amused when high ranking people are supposedly surprised by surveillance imposed on them. It would seem to come with the job.

Gee, wonder who is logging this comment?

EVsRock!

Any honest person might think they shouldn't care, until one day, because of a strange phone call to your cellphone from an acquaintance who got mixed up in something you didn't know about, or an odd piece of spam, or a conversation you had with someone via e-mail, only later finding out that person was a nut, the government shows up and wants to -take- your computer, phone, all your stuff.. "just to examine it".. weeks later, maybe you get it back, maybe not, maybe you get it back and the data's trashed.

"any honest person" - that is one sure line that a cop will use for intimidation when asking to search you when he has no factual reason or right to do so. It's a psychology that has been cultivated in the general public for means of compliance and control. OK, so now wake up.. it's a lie.

Never think that an honest person should not care, not for a minute. -because the government is not honest, nor moral. It only goes by the laws it makes, and it will bend them as much as it feels like it has to and as much as it thinks it can get away with.

the 'cloud' is a big nice place to store things that you want everyone to see. Might as well post it all on face book.

What is needed more widely, and which some people probably already do, is have their 'real' computer (the one with the important private data) somewhere elsewhere than their home, and their trivial computer sits on the desk as the "subpoena target", and is really just a terminal for stupid things like FB, webmail, and the rest. Regardless of what anyone says, it is easy to transfer an important, private piece of data between two computers (like from the silly home computer to the private important computer) and leave no decipherable trace of it at all. This is an extremely honest thing to do. It is called "practicing your 4th ammendment rights". It is very patriotic.

As for the cellphone, well it is what it is. I don't allow e-mail, internet or web objects, apps, or texts to arrive on mine. I am sure that will horrify many people, but geez do you really need all that junk with you every moment of every day?

In case you missed high school history: The Fourth Amendment:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The recipient of the allegedly threatening e-mails called the FBI to investigate. The FBI saw the mails, and began an investigation based upon probably cause. They asked for, and received, a warrant, and successfully determined the sender of the e-mails.

That looks to me like it meets the constitutional test.

Once again it is the USA playing God. What gives them the right to look at other people's private emails? Let them do it to their fellow countrymen, I do not care about that in the slightest. Americans are always sticking their noses into other people's business just in the same way they involve themselves in other countries' affairs. (Of course only if that country has oil). Keep off of other peoples' turf, play super-cop in your own backyard.

What gives them the right to look at other people's private emails is that those e-mails were sent to someone who was threatened by the message, and called the FBI to investigate. Those e-mails also contained non-public information about the comings and goings of U.S. Armed Forces officers.

When the FBI investigated, they found just cause to get a legal warrant to find the sender, and inspect the sender's e-mail. It was all legal, and constitutional, and had nothing at all to do with interfering in some other country's business. This was a case between U.S. citizens.

MY thoughts, EXACTLY!

The news reports suggest that the warrants, etc. for the investigation were in order. The question is whether when legally investigating one complaint, evidence of another potential crime can and should be investigated. Other possible crimes include General Allen's alleged adultery (a crime for an officer), and the source of (unspecified) classified information in Paula Broadwell's possession.

How should the FBI decide when to pursue leads tangential to the case they are investigating? What if they found emails that appeared connected to terrorist activity? Or that Allen or Petraeus might become targets of bribery? Or that two consenting civilians had an affair (is this a crime?)? Where is the line drawn?

This all sounds a lot like when Clinton was asked a question that was not relevant to the inquire at hand, about legal activity between consulting adults, lied and then was impeached for that lie. Maybe the rule of law does not always lead to justice. Maybe we have become a crazy confused society in serious need of leadership to help us determine what is really important for our common good!

I am in no way connected to the business I'm about to mention here. I am considering using a new service called ( Silent Circle ) for one of my business start ups. If you have privacy concerns this might be worth a look.
https://silentcircle.com/

KISS your FREEDOM good - BYE !! a man that is 19 years old cant buy a beer in a bar , BUT the GOVERNMENT says he is old enough to go to Iraq/ or AFGAHAN , and be shot to death

Hello friends ...
I love my country, Iran.
Access and theft of personal privacy does not exist in our country.
Long live Iran
A country with deep scars still standing strong.
And no power to face this country is super power.
Long live Iran
Iran where there is security and freedom
If you respond to me please email me

hossein_ariaey@yahoo.com