BYU can read my email. BYU has a record of all of my web traffic because of the proxy. And you know what, I don't care. What I do care about is "services" like this one:
http://www.anybirthday.com So big brother's watching. Big deal, who cares? Without encryption, the Internet is a giant commons. I wouldn't go to a restaurant to discuss sensitive information, why should I expect anything else on the Net? Because you feel safe in the privacy of your home? Ah, but you're not, now are you? You're (virtually) in a public space and therefore responsible for protecting your own privacy. What I care about is the lunatics on the street corners. "Want Mr. Jansen's credit history? Click here!" "Want Mr. Jansen's birthdate? Click here!" "Need to know the maiden name of Mr. Jansen's mother? We've got it!" The company I link to above has the accurate birth date of one of my coworkers and his wife. They never asked if he'd mind, someone already did that a long time ago. He just didn't expect them to sell it. Thankfully, I've stayed off their radar so far. Welcome to reality. If you (stupidly) tell unflattering truths about your employer (something all of you know I do), you shouldn't be surprised when they find out. If you put something down in writing, you should be prepared to have it brought back to bite you in five years. The alternative is keeping quiet, not whining about the loss of "privacy" you never had. Me? I choose to risk it and say what I think. (Most of the time.) Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating a police state. But it seems to me that you should put something in an envelope instead of expecting everyone to not look at your postcard. Be that figuratively with encryption (something the govt. should definitely not outlaw), or literally with a piece of paper and a stamp. Instead of complaining about email, you should be worrying about things like: Why does BYU still need my SSN so often, and why do they insist on printing it on so many things? Why is the LDAP server wide open? Why is it so easy to change my RY password? Why can anyone on campus throw together a web app and require me to use my RY NetID and password to log in? Why don't they even have to let OIT know they're doing it, let along make sure it's secure? Why do so many other sites insist on collecting information they have no business needing? Etc. If you're not saying things you shouldn't, you have nothing to fear from email. You do have something to fear from people out to work the system and steal your identity. -- Stuart Jansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> #define FALSE 0 /* This is the naked Truth */ #define TRUE 1 /* and this is the Light */ -- mailto.c
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