This was not on my mind, as this is a rather minor consequence of the openness of e-mails. What I had in mind you may find by googling e.g. "use of metadata nsa" which returns links like

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/nsa-metadata/

If you read a few of the articles listed there, you get a better idea of why I wrote "What is the point . . ." Take for example
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-van-buren/using-metadata-to-catch-a_b_5034414.html

and understand how your privacy is compromised by metadata. Or read
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/10/the-nsas-secret-role/
how metadata is can be used to send you a package you did not order.

E-mail addresses used to be collected and sold by many companies as the starting point for electronic advertising. Today, this spam is filtered away by your Service Provider. Does that mean we get fewer advertisements?

I value my privacy. How can I enforce it if my choice of electronic traffic gives me away anyway? Why then encrypt? If you have sensitive data to transmit, put them on paper (encrypted, if you like) and snail-mail them. That way, you know there are no metadata to reveal you.

Wolfgang

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On 24/08/15 13:03, Chris O'Halloran wrote: