Is Your Email Address Public Data?

quackking writes "Are email addresses public records, accessible under public open-access laws in America? Up in Maine they are fighting about just this issue ..."

Comments

If email were public data...

[Anonymous Coward]

Would personal websites be public data?

Would ICQ, AIM, MSN, IRC nicks/networks be public data?

We're talking about new methods of communication here!!

well, I would say no

[Anonymous Coward]

Since phone numbers and addresses are "anonymous" they are public information unless they connect a person to the address. For instance you can make up phone numbers, or you can drive down the street and get addresses.

However once you connect an individual to the address it's an invasion of privacy, in my opinion.

So email addresses aren't always anonymous, for instance "bob.smith@company.com" is clearly the address of Bob Smith. So you have to err on the side of caution and assume all email addresses contain some degree of personal information in the form of names or initials.

Also there is the spam danger: I've often had my email address placed in Cc: lists by mistake (or by stupidity) and as a result gotten signed up for junk, or even started receiving Klez virus, etc.

So one clueless moron who gets a hold of my address "to contact the citizens" might do the same thing and then I have to shut down the address (not a problem since I have my own domain and make up new addresses all the time, but still annoying).

one solution

[zatz]

If the average netizen had access to a more capable mail server, there would be a technical solution to this. One which I already employ when I need to give an email address to someone I don't trust not to or resell it.

Generate a random string to use as a mailbox name. Forward that to your real inbox. Use procmail or MTA rules to bounce any messages it receives which are not from the expected sender, or just remove the mapping entirely when it outlives its usefulness. Certainly this process could be made more automatic and user friendly if there was demand for it.

This also allows for greater anonymity, although you could still require recipients of the city newsletter to give real names with their special-purpose addresses. Who lives in the city is already relatively easy to determine regardless.