Over the past five years email use has exploded. In the United States alone, there are approximately 75 million email users sending about one billion email messages per day. Companies generate approximately 2,000 messages annually per employee. Because of the speed with which email messages can be created and sent, users have the misperception that email, like telephone communication, is not permanent. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Email is virtually impossible to obliterate.
Email is stored on local PC's, network servers, and back up media at both the sending and receiving end. This problem is further exacerbated by the ability of the sender or receiver to copy and forward email to others. Even when a user attempts to delete an email, it will remain hidden on disk storage media, recoverable by special software programs unless overwritten. Users also incorrectly assume that email is confidential. It is difficult to intercept an email in transmission, and it is illegal under the federal Wiretap Act to do so.