Keeping Your Email Secret

You don't want to get Petraeus-ed do you??

The scandal involving Petraeus was partly exposed by his emails. Seems weird to think that the director of the CIA wouldn't think to NOT put sensitive stuff in an email but I guess he didn't figure anyone was looking. In his defense, the way he was doing stuff should have worked for hiding stuff fom a friend, wife, boss, etc. The FBI however.......

(He was using a pretty common trick where you and whoever you're having secret mailings with each have access to an email account. You write to each other, but don't actually send it. Leave it in the "draft" folder and simply remember to check it periodically. Easy!)

I'm not selling military secrets or having an affair but still, I like my privacy. Can you imagine my friends at Glaziers finding out I occasionally drink something besides Coors Light? Or Ray Monroe finding out I subscribe to the Creed newsletter! (Even worse, Ronson finding out it was me that signed him up for the Zeppelin newsletter??)

Whatever your reasons for covering your email tracks, here are a few ways to do it!!

First, know who you're hiding dtuff from. If you're trying to keep your honey from seeing your Christmas list; you probably don't need to work to hard at keeping your privacy. If you're selling drugs or nuclear warheads; the people you want to keep out are much more computer savy and you're going to need more sophisticated means!

In short; the cops (and the Government!) tend to get what they want so keep that in mind! According to google;

United States law enforcement agencies requested data for 16,281 accounts from January to June of this year, and it complied in 90 percent of cases.

Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images

For the average guy though, here are a a few simple ideas!

If using google talk, choose the "off the record" feature. This wipes out anything you type while instant messaging!

Get an encryption device such as GnuPG. If anyone does open your email, all they will see is a bunch of gibberish unless they have the key! Wickr is good for smart phones. It writes crap all over your messages so they're basically unreadable!

Get a "self destruct timer" like 10 Minute Mail. This wipes out your messages after a certain amount of time. (Again, wickr will work for smart phones!)

You can also have a designated "special" computer or phone in addition to your usual one. That can look a tad suspicious though!

Better still, don't write stuff down!! (Better, better still; don't do anything you shouldn't do!)