Spamcop / privacy / e-mail backups

[Maxim]

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/06/03/17/1548216.shtml

is this something that could happen to us on spamcop as well?

When I read my mails through POP and delete them on the server, is there a backup where the mail is kept? Or are mails logged? I once heard that the US government has that requirement for mail-servers in the US.

regards,

Maxim

[Telarin]

I certainly hope so. If this couldn't happen to spamcop email, that would mean that spamcop isn't doing any kind of backup of your email.

This kind of thing is possible anytime there is a decent backup system in place, as there is no guarantee that the tapes from that backup get wiped on any particular schedule.

Of course, even thinking for a moment that email (even with the use of PGP) is a secure means of communication, would be completely incorrect. Email is sent in plain text from server to server, meaning that any server in the line could be holding the email in a queue, which might get backed up to tape and stored away in a tape vault somewhere in case of system failure.

PGP helps some, but for those that don't know, PGP = Pretty Good Privacy... By no means is that the same as Absolute Privacy. In fact, with a good fast computer, and the write algorithms, one could crack a private key in a matter of a few hours to a few days.

You could always run your own mail server and not backup the message stores (and hope the system never crashed), but even then, your email would still be in the stores of the server on the other end of the conversation (and potentially relay servers along the way, but this hasn't been common since the 1980s, when the internet was in its infancy).

All in all, if you want security, for goodness sake, don't use email as your secure form of communication.

[StevenUnderwood]

I certainly hope so. If this couldn't happen to spamcop email, that would mean that spamcop isn't doing any kind of backup of your email.

41406[/snapback]

Personally, I do not expect SpamCop to be backing up my mail, and it might be my age, but seem to remember that they are not (only the server and account information are backed up).

I keep a copy (and backups) of anything I might want/need.

[Maxim]

what about if I use pop to pick up my mail constantly every 10 minutes and delete it on the server after that happened? I would only expect that mail to be on the backup in the 10 minutes the backup is running and nothing else.

Is this the case? Is there no US requirement to log e-mails as a provider?

[StevenUnderwood]

what about if I use pop to pick up my mail constantly every 10 minutes and delete it on the server after that happened? I would only expect that mail to be on the backup in the 10 minutes the backup is running and nothing else.

Is this the case? Is there no US requirement to log e-mails as a provider?

41419[/snapback]

I'm not aware of any, but I am not in that business. The rules my company uses is 6 months is kept online and backups (all types) are kept for 7 years, then destroyed at the beginning of the eighth year. I just spent 5 hours in January at our off-line storage facility purging the old tapes.