Re: [ISN] E-mail can have dire consequences

From: mea culpa (jerichoat_private)
Date: Wed Jun 17 1998 - 17:12:16 PDT

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    Reply From: "Jay D. Dyson" <jdysonat_private>
    
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    On Tue, 16 Jun 1998, mea culpa wrote:
    
    > E-mail can have dire consequences
    <snip>
    > Trouble is, those casual messages sometimes get misdirected, or they can
    > have healthy lifespans, hibernating for years on a computer backup in the
    > company's basement. Sometimes, like old soldiers, old e-mail messages
    > never die. 
    
    	I don't know if I buy this argument entirely.  E-mail can be too
    readily altered and/or forged.  What's to stop anyone from claiming that
    _most_ of the message is theirs, but that they "cannot recall" ever having
    written the crucial bits?  (You know, "the timestamps are right, the
    headers are right, but gee whiz, I don't remember giving those orders"
    sort of thing.)
    
    	Without digital signatures, it's one person's word against
    another.  Given that, e-mail "evidence" is circumstantial at best.  Any
    technology-minded judge would likely dismiss it as such.
    
       (    (                                                        ______
       ))   ))  .- "There's always time for a good cup of coffee" -.  >===<--.
     C|~~|C|~~| [> Jay D. Dyson - jdysonat_private <] | =   |-'
      `--' `--' `-------------- Nemo impune lacessit --------------' `-----'
    
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