Amanda
Site Admin
Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1042
Location: NSW
Reputation: 1257.8
Votes: 18
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 Posted: Jul 28, 2005 7:44 pm Post subject: A guide to safe use of email
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Safe Email for the CyberGirl
Internet electronic mail or email is commonly available at work and increasingly at home. The convenience and security of email makes it attractive to the transgendered community and provides us with an easy way of contacting other girls.
Used carefully email can greatly enhance your transgendered life, but there are hazards to be avoided. In this article I discuss some of the things that could go wrong when using email and things you can do to be a smart Cyber-girl.
How do I use email?
Email can be used for private conversations between individuals on the Internet. It is possible to send email to any other person on the Internet as well as to some other computer networks that are connected to the Internet.
Before sending mail to someone you have to know the Internet mailing address (or email address) of the person you wish to write to. The address consists of a user name and a computer name separated by the @ symbol (such as webmistress@trannyradio.com).
When you know the email address, you can use an Internet mail program (such as Netscape, Eudora, or Microsoft Exchange) to send your message in much the same way as you would write a letter.
How safe is it to use email?
Most crossdressers live in some element of secrecy, if only from their collegues at work. Revealing their male identity accidentally, or inadvertently advertising their interest in transgender issues can threaten such an existence.
Used incorrectly, email can reveal your true identity to the world, expose your private conversations to others, and threaten your transgendered life.
Let's see how this can happen, and what you can do to stop it.
Telling the world your boy name
Have a look at the fictional email message below. This is typical of many emails I receive and shows what the recipient of an email message will see. Although the email is from Yvonne, the email header clearly identifies the sender as a George Smith.
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 09:20:09 +1100
From: George Smith <gsmith@bigw.com.au>
To: webmistress@trannyradio.com
Subject: Coming Out
Amanda , thanks for your wonderful home page .
Yvonne
When you send email your computer adds extra information that is used by the computer systems that transmit the message and return any reply. This extra information which you do not type in each message includes the identity of the sender, as programmed into your computer.
When Yvonne's computer email reader was installed she would have been asked to supply her full name and identity. The email program will add the full name to every mail message sent.
Amanda's Advice
Always check what name is programmed into your email program.
Try sending an email to yourself to see what name is in the message you receive
Change to a blank name (or a space if the program complains).
If you change it to your femme name you may forget and send some embarrassing email to your mother!
Telling the world your email address
Yvonne's email address (gsmith@bigw.com.au) is also a bit of a give-away. Even if she corrects her full name shown on the email we still would be able to guess not only what her male name is, but worse still where she works!
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 09:20:09 +1100
From: Yvonne <gsmith@bigw.com.au>
There are people and organisations on the internet that collect email addresses. You need to be aware that by using an email address you may find yourself on a mailing list and receive unsolicited advertising material. If your email address associates you with being transgendered you may also attract unwanted email from some of the less accepting members of society. Most of this unsolicited email is not the sort of thing you want arriving at your workplace.
Amanda's Advice
Don't use your work email account.
Unless you are seriously planning to come out to your colleagues at work
If your email address gives too much away - get a hotmail or yahoo account
It's free
You can access your email from any web browser
You get to choose your email name
It's no surprise is it that most cyber-girls have a freemail account!
Letting your computer give you away
Sometimes your email can be traced by the computer you use. Each computer has an internet address that identifies it on the Internet. The address (called an IP address) looks something like 203.77.154.36. Often the computer will have a name as well - such as enterprise.star-trek.com.
Computers just love to let on to each other what their addresses are, and pack your email message with their calling cards. (You can see this extra information by selecting the option on your mail reader to make headers visible).
It's all very computer geek stuff but you should at least be aware that email can be traced (albeit with some difficulty) back to the exact machine that sent the message.
Amanda's Advice
Avoid sending mail from work
Use your personal dial-up ISP (or hotmail) to send mail.
This makes it harder for someone to track down your computer.
Privacy - who can read my email?
In America the situation is clear; a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania ruled on January 18,1996 that even if an employer promises not to intercept email on a company system, there is not an expectation of privacy in the email. The situation in other countries is less clear. You would should always consider that your email may be read by a third party.
Here are some of the ways that your email might be read by others:
If mail is addressed incorrectly it is "bounced back" as it cannot reach the nonexistant destination. Often a description of the problem encountered is attached to the mail when it is returned to you. However system errors can prevent the mail being sent or received correctly. Under these all too frequent situations the email ends up in a dead-mail box maintained by a system administrator - ready to be read by someone else.
If your email reaches the intended destination then the receiver may compose a reply to you. Most Internet mail readers provide a simple way of replying to a message. The computer will normally send the email reply to the person who sent the original email. If you share your computer with others then beware of sending email without first logging on. A reply intended for you may be sent to (and read by) someone else who was logged on.
Email can be sent to several people by specifying carbon copy (CC:). It can also be used to send replies to a different address that the email originated from. All this means that one can accidentally send copies of messages to others.
Amanda's Advice
Check new email addresses by sending a simple message
Never trust that an email address is valid.
Send a simple message like
"Carol. Thank you for your message.
Before replying I need to check your email address
Please reply if this email reaches you."
Check you are logged on
If other people can use your computer
log out and log back in again.
Before sending a reply check who it is being sent to
Check that the email is going to an address you recognise
Remember that your email is never truly private
Look over each message before you send it
check that you have not been drawn into saying things that reveal unnecessary detail
about your identity or transgendered life.
Identity - who are you talking to anyway?
Unfortunately email is as easy to fraud as it is to use. Remember that using email it is easy to impersonate and deceive others. An email address is not a proof of identity. Until you confirm in some other way who you are talking to, you should be cautious in what you say. Amanda's Advice
Proceed with caution
Until you can confirm who is receiving your email
Does all this mean I would be safer not using email?
This article is intended to increase your understanding of email and make it safer for you to use. Email will always be safer and easier than writing letters, or making phone calls.
Go right ahead and write like a Cyber-girl!
(this text copyright Amanda 1997) |
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