An article about email might seem to be out of place in a library about audio, video, and multimedia, but email often plays a role in "new media" content. For example, a Web site may offer a "send this page to a friend" function. Or, new user registration on a site may initiate an email notification to the site owner. Thus, although it is not normally considered "multimedia," the role of email in new media content earns a place for this article in the AVM Library!

Believe These Myths? Beware!

Email is a great tool. Like any tool, though, you need to understand its limitations. Not knowing the limits of your tools can be a recipe for disaster, and that's as true for email as it is for a chainsaw or electric drill.

It's easy to get too comfortable with email, and expect things from it that it won't always provide. I've been using email, or electronic messaging in one form or another, since the early 1980s, and I know first-hand some of the trouble that can be caused by false expectations! So although email is a great way to communicate and I'm not ready to give it up, these three myths of email must be kept in mind.

"Email Is Fast!"

There's no doubt that email can be very fast. You can send your message and have it received minutes or even seconds later. That sure beats sending a letter through the postal service!

But the tricky part is that the "typical" speed of email leads us into believing that email is always fast. The truth is, it's not always fast. In fact, it can actually be slower than the postal service.

Don't believe me? Here's an example from my personal experience. A client who uses Gmail for their email services sent me a message. More than a day later, my client and I communicated about that message and realized that somehow it hadn't arrived as expected. I considered some of the "typical" problems, such as user error, or an over-zealous spam filter. But guess what? The message was just delayed. It was stuck, for about four days, all within the Gmail servers. It suddenly arrived over half a week after it was sent -- the postal service would've got it to me faster! By analyzing the headers, I could trace the message's route, and that's how I know that it was held up on the Gmail side for all that time. As soon as the Gmail system finally released it to the "outside world," it was delivered to my mail host within seconds.

Email is fast -- usually. Perhaps 99.99% of the time. But it's not always fast. And, really, doesn't it seem likely that the one time it fails you will be for an important message?!

"Email is Private"

It's pretty basic: When you write an email, you choose who will receive it by putting their email addresses in the To, Cc, or Bcc fields. And when you send it on its way, you might give some quick thought to what those people will think when they see your message.

But... when you hit Send, are you also thinking about the other people who may read your message?

Unless you secure your message with strong encryption, there's actually a decent chance that your message will be read by people you don't know, will never meet, and will never know had access to your message.

Without encryption, email is about as private as a postcard!

There are at least four specific groups of people who might see your message without you knowing about it, and -- believe it or not -- only one of those groups is doing anything bad!

Group #1: Email Administrators. They may see your message as part of their routine system maintenance, or while troubleshooting a problem, or as part of a mandated surveillance program (such as if you're sending email at work). If your message is seen by anybody other than you and the people you select, people in that first group are by far the most likely.

Group #2: Joe/Jane Public. These are average people like you and me, people just minding their own business, who accidentally receive your email due to a glitch somewhere along the line. Maybe you mistyped an address, or maybe a broken mail server was at fault, but it is possible to receive email that wasn't intended for you -- and for your message to end up going to complete strangers by accident. It's not common, but it can happen.

Group #3: "Bad Guys." These are people who are actively trying to get into things (such as email) where they don't belong. Whatever you call them ("hackers," etc.), they're not the kind of people you want reading your mail! Again, this isn't common, but it's a real possibility.

Group #4: Government Personnel. These are people doing their official duty which may include collecting a copy of your mail for "homeland security" purposes. Where you live will have some impact on how likely this is, since some countries are more actively paranoid than others, but it's something to consider.

So if you want to keep your private conversations private -- whether you're talking about your latest invention or an embarrassing medical condition -- encryption is the answer. Look up S/MIME or PGP, or start with the free GnuPG if you're technically-minded.

"Email is Reliable"

In case the two other myths didn't make this clear, email is not always reliable. Unfortunately, it's not just that it might go to the wrong person. And it's not just that it might arrive much later than expected. Sometimes, your messages won't arrive at all -- and you may never know it!

Despite how reliable email seems, there are many things that can go wrong. Mail servers can be broken. Email addresses can be mistyped. Accounts can be closed, either by the account owner or a system administrator. Spam filters can grab on to legitimate messages and hide or discard them. And to make matters worse, you may or may not get an error message sent back to you, so there will be times when you have no idea a problem happened.

One way or another, a message you think you've sent may not actually have made it to your intended recipient(s), and you won't always know. This might not be a problem for casual things like sharing a funny joke or link to a cool Web site, but for important messages, it can pay to follow up later to ensure the message actually made it through.

Before You Click Send...

Give some thought to these myths of email. It's too easy to expect messages to arrive, and to be fast and private. For trivial messages, you won't experience any grief if one of those assumptions fails you. But for an important message, you should take steps to reduce your risks. For example, if you exchange private messages with people (your doctor, your lawyer, a loved one, etc.), you should find a convenient way to encrypt your messages. Then, follow up with recipients of important messages, to make sure they arrived in a timely manner.

Will This Help You?

If you think this is valuable information, I would enjoy hearing from you. Even more important, though, would be for you to share a link to this article with your friends, family, co-workers, and others who might need to know (or be reminded) about the hidden pitfalls of email.