Privacy means the concept in which users ‘ data such as stored files, e-mail, etc. are not be seen by any other person without the main user’s permission. in other words, it is private communication accomplished when the sender and intended receiver can read the message. in this section, important points related to privacy such as E-mail privacy are described.

When you send an e-mail, the message is broken into several packets and each packet is sent through the internet. The number of packets depends on the length of the message. each packet that is sent over the internet has the internet address of the sender and the recipient’s address. packets of a single message may take different routes to reach the destination. before reaching the destination, messages pass through different systems.

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This means the content of the message and the address of the sender and receiver are examined by all the systems through which each packet is routed. so, in the absence of codes and protection, e-mail could be very public. most of the system administrators adopt a code under which they will not examine someone’s e-mail.

The electronic Communication Privacy act was passed in 1986 for the privacy of e-mail. it prohibits anyone to access e-mail messages without the sender’s permission. it also prohibits individual private messages accessed by government officers without legal permission. this act allows the system administrators to examine e-mail messages only when it is necessary for any operation or the security of the system.

When you send a message to someone, the message is transmitted in the same form you have typed it, whether it is illegal for someone to read it or not. one way to avoid this, use encryption (in which a message is sent to the receiver in some secret code). the message can’t be read unless the code and the method of encryption are known to the reader. this code is called the key. the reader must know the key to decode the message for reading.

There is a tremendous number of files, documents, and images available on the internet. they can be viewed, saves in a file, printed, and passed on to others. we can create copies of any information which we can find on the internet only when it is legal for doing so. the information that is in a readable form but not used for download or saved in a file is only for ownership.

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There are a number of laws throughout the world to protect these ownership rights. the right to copy or duplicate materials can be granted only by the owner of the information. this is called the copyright. many documents or files on the internet contain a statement that shows the document is copyrighted.

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