The average individual who uses email, naively believes that their email is private and secure. They believe that the use of their password will keep their email messages secure. Email is said to be as private as sending a message in a postcard. Electronic mail is widely used every day by hundreds of thousands of people. Unfortunately email can be a very insecure way of communication.
Electronic mail is notoriously unprivate.
When an email message is sent it travels from the originating host computer to the destination and often passes through several relaying hosts. Administrators of any these hosts can easily eavesdrop the mail traffic. If the mail bounces because it can't reach the addressee, a copy of the message is often sent to the postmaster of the originating system who can read the e-mail addresses of the sender and the addressee and the contents of the mail. Since there's no strong legislation that specifically addresses electronic privacy concerns, it's not surprising that the courts have overwhelmingly supported employers in cases of workplace monitoring. Inc. In this case, Alana Shoars, an Epson employee, arriving for work one day, discovered her supervisor reading and printing out e-mail messages between other employees.