[Mimedefang] action_bounce - forget it!

[Alexander Dalloz]

Am Fr, den 30.01.2004 schrieb Scott Ladewig um 01:33:
> >> On Thu, 29 Jan 2004, Dirk Mueller wrote:
> >> 
> >> > > line ~220) looks like this - see below. No bouncing, no quarantines, just
> >> > > action_discard. For ALL the viruses/worms. That's it!
> >> 
> >> > Well, in most countries this is however illegal.
> >> 
> >> I doubt it.  Do you have evidence to support this statement?
> >> 
> >> Regards,
> >> 
> >> David.
> >
> >I can at least acknowledge this for German rights: it's in the German
> >criminal code §206. You can get up to 5 years imprisonment!
> 
> Exceprt from Section 206:
> 
> (1) Whoever, without authorization, makes a communication to another person about facts which are subject to postal or telecommunications confidentiality and which became known to him as the owner or employee of an enterprise in the business of providing postal or telecommunications services, shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than five years or a fine.
> 
> (2) Whoever, as an owner or employee of an enterprise indicated in subsection (1) and without authorization: 
> 1. opens a piece of mail which has been entrusted to such an enterprise for transmission and is sealed, or gains knowledge of its content without breaking the seal by using technical means; 
> 2. suppresses a piece of mail entrusted to such an enterprise for transmission; or 
> 3. permits or encourages one of the acts indicated in subsection (1) or in numbers 1 or 2, shall be similarly punished.
> 
> 
> The law obviously applies to ISPs and other companies that provide e-mail services as their business.  For private companies though, my understanding is that company policies regarding e-mail will determine whether the law applies.  If a company explicitly prohibits personal use and only allows business use of e-mail, then this law does not apply, and the company has the right to review communications, suppress mail, etc., as long as it communicates to employees that these things are being done.
> 
> If the company allows employees to use e-mail for non-business purposes, then they are covered by the law because they are considered to be providing telecommunication services to their employees.  Personal e-mails are being sent to that person, not to the company.  So suppression of a message would be illegal.
> 
> Good reason to forbid non-business use of e-mail if you're a company in Germany.

This law has a more general usage and applies too for instance on
central mail services in university area. This is the reason i.e. why
the mail admin at my university neglects to filter out viruses/worms by
rules which may cause loss of false positives.

> Scott J. Ladewig

Alexander


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Alexander Dalloz | Enger, Germany | GPG key 1024D/ED695653 1999-07-13
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