Ask Leo! by Leo A. Notenboom

Is my email account private?

Search First! Then browse: Categories | Full Archive | By Date | Newsletter

Home » EMail » Email Privacy

Summary: If someone else shares or administers your email account, then your privacy could easily be at risk.

I have a pop3 mail address which I use. It belongs to my boyfriend! Is it possible for him (as administrator) to receive all copies of my incoming and outgoing mail and if so - how do I detect whether he is doing so? Incidentally I used another account to ask you this question!!! Just in case!

In short: absolutely. And it's almost impossible for you to tell.

So what can you do? And what can you count on?

Your case is easy: get another email account that only you have access to.

It's worth noting, though, that the administrators involved in maintaining whatever system you use for email can, if they desire, access your email. For example, your ISP and the administrators on the server of whomever you exchange email with can see the messages you send there.

If that administrator happens to be your boyfriend, and you don't quite trust him ... well, then you should get that second email account somewhere where he is not an administrator.

I won't comment on what to do with a boyfriend you don't trust.

Related:

Article C2275 - February 4, 2005

Helpful? Get new articles weekly by email in my FREE newsletter!

Your Name:
Your Email:


Why Subscribe?

Recent Comments
2 Comments

Have an comcast email address. Getting divorced. Bill in wifes name. She changed my password, broke into my email and read confidential traffic. Isn't this against the law? -

Posted by: Curt at January 26, 2008 3:57 PM

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. Sounds like you need to talk
to law enforcement or your divorce attorney.

Leo


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32)

iD8DBQFHpMOGCMEe9B/8oqERApncAJ4+53F61/VqCoMoqI7aT5CF5pOX1gCfUr+Q
ckukU4eu8ccEDi5ntWvkGj0=
=ciE4
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Posted by: Leo A. Notenboom at February 2, 2008 11:24 AM

Post a comment on "Is my email account private?":






(Email Address will not be published.)

Remember Me?

By popular demand...
my tip jar
Cuppa Joe
Buy Leo a Latte!

(you may use HTML tags for style)

RSS feed Subscribe to the RSS Feed specifically for comments on this article.

Before commenting, please...

  • Read the article at the top of this page. If your comment shows you didn't, it'll be deleted and ignored.

  • Comment only on this article. Use the Google search box at the top of the page if you have a question about something else.

  • Don't include personal information in the comment. No email addresses. No phone numbers. No physical addresses.

  • Don't spam. Excessive links to unrelated sites within a comment or across multiple comments will cause all such comments to be removed.

  • Don't ask me to recover lost passwords or hacked accounts. I can't, and those comments will be deleted.

  • I can't respond to every comment. And I can't vouch for the accuracy of others who do.

Please wait. Your comment is being processed ...


Question? Ask Leo!