2007-01-14 18:00:35 · 14 answers · asked by Cool Wolf 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Well, if they are, I'm sure they are laughing their butts off at the e-mails my friends and I send back and forth. We can get pretty silly in what we send to one another.
Seriously, I do feel that it's possible that e-mails are scanned for key words that they feel are suspicious. I don't think that this screening is very effective, however. I would imagine that anyone sending terroristic plans through e-mail uses code words. For example, the e-mail sender might say "spaghetti" instead of "bomb", or some such thing.
2007-01-14 18:45:34 · answer #1 · answered by Mama Pastafarian 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Everything on the internet could theoretically be intercepted and read by anyone. However, there are some problems in doing so, one of which are the encryption schemes that can be used to protect the privacy of the messages you send, and the other is the sheer volume of mail that is sent.
There is also a great difference between reading and screening email.
It is likely that the National Security Agency, in this post-9/11 era has its filters in the internet traffic stream, not just for email, but for all keystrokes traipsing back and forth over the WWW and WWW2 etc.
The NSA however has no interest in 99.99999% of that traffic. Reading it would be too time consuming and impossible for any staff.
What I would do if I were them is look for key words that might suggest naughty behavior and then maybe other strategies before getting down to the looking at an individuals email account.
This is an off the cuff answer, but it may be that US email may even be protected, so they may not be able to read your email except in certain cases. But I would certainly avoid "Joke" emails loaded with keywords just to get their attention.
You will notice that I have deliberately avoided filling my answer with same.
Someone more technically oriented may also be able to explain how email is sent over the internet, split into packets, sent via different routes and reassembled at the destination, this also makes it harder to "catch" your email. Unless of course you leave your email address and password on some public message area!
Don't do that.
There is a program called PGP for pretty good privacy that can do very good encryption of your email. You can get it online for free. Just google PGP. You have to send the recipient a key to open your message, but even Government computers will have difficulty cracking it. But then, hey, if you are worried about Government snooping, why draw attention to yourself by encrypting your email?
2007-01-15 02:19:21 · answer #2 · answered by PjCamus 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No. The technology simply isn't available yet for any government agency to monitor everybody's email. Don't get me wrong, it is quite possible to monitor a particular suspect's email, just not everybody's.
And you also have to consider the fact that it is illegal under privacy law for the government to monitor everybody's email without a warrant (though I'll be the first to grant that that might not stop them from doing so).
2007-01-15 02:16:26 · answer #3 · answered by Bael 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Of course they are. They have computers checking for certain target words like "bomb" etc. They've been doing that for years. The FBI also has what they call a "roving bug" They have the technology to use your cell phone as a microphone whether its on or off to hear anything that is said around you. The only way to stop it from being used by them is to take out the battery.
2007-01-15 02:07:02 · answer #4 · answered by Haven17 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nope. It will be a waste of time.
How many people would you think it takes to screen 2 billion emails everyday?
2007-01-15 02:13:27 · answer #5 · answered by BryanB 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would be amazed if they didnt... If I was in there shoes and the people gave me the power to read there emails ect I would def be doing it to as many people as I possibly could.
2007-01-15 02:08:01 · answer #6 · answered by magpiesmn 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The NSA looks for flagwords. CARNIVORE is the program that can perpetrate ANY privacy protections on your computer.
2007-01-15 02:53:15 · answer #7 · answered by david m 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If they are reading mine, all they know is that I get way too much spam and my friends send me jokes that aren't funny.
2007-01-15 02:09:56 · answer #8 · answered by dh1977 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think they monitor key words and then get into your system just for national security reasons. Same goes for phones, a computer monitors "key words", and then they check it out.
2007-01-15 02:06:57 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
ofcourse they are. They are also looking into our bank accounts and credit histories, our phone calls and just about everything else.
They say we a free but we are really on an invisble leash.
2007-01-15 02:10:07 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋