Abstract: Email is rapidly becoming the most popular method of communication in the world. However, email systems in corporate, institutional, and commercial environments are all potential targets of monitoring, surveillance, and ultimately censorship. Email is a phenomenon that has begun to pervade all aspects of our lives today. We use email in our personal lives, at school, at work, and everywhere in between. However, very few of us consider the fact that even though our email is composed by the sender and is intended to be read only by the recipient, it actually passes through many intermediate hands. Transmitted email often travels through up to 5 or 6 different servers on its way from sender to recipient. Along the way, it can be read, edited, and even destroyed by anyone with the means and will to do so. The decision to monitor email is left to the organization that provides email service to users. These organizations can range from educational institutions and private companies, to governments and non-profit organizations. Each of these different types of organizations has a different agenda and goals, not only in general, but also for their members and, more specifically, for their members' email. While educational institutions may provide email services to their constituents for convenience purposes, employers almost always maintain email services for the sole purpose of improving their employees' work productivity. The case of Richard Epstein's Robot Killer provides an ideal demonstration of the benefits of email monitoring. “Silicon Techronics employee admits faking software tests” (...... middle of paper ....... Ethics and Computer Science: Living Responsibly in a Computerized World. IEEE. 2001.Cripps, Wayne. Dartmouth College, Department of Computer Science. Personal communication, January 24, 2001. Epstein, Richard. The Case of the Killer Robot: Stories of the Professional, Ethical, and Social Dimensions of Computer Science John Wiley and Sons 1996. Federal Bureau of Investigation -. http://www.fbi.gov/pressrm/congress/congress00/kerr090600.htm.Higgins, Kevan. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton. Personal communication, January 23, 2001. Matthews, James , January 23, February 7, 2001. User Communications, Dartmouth College, Department of Information Technology Services 2000 13:36:45.