There is no individual ‘person’sitting there monitoring your email. There is a super computer that is integrated into the main gateways/piplines that all communication travels through. This super computer absorbs all data that pass through it. Telephone, email, fax, EVERYTHING. The NSA can simply type in keywords and , bada bing, they get 1.5 million hits with that keyword. The only thin that is remotely secure is a registered mail letter, sealed with a wax stamp/seal, and wrapped in aluminum foil.
And to another poster about PGP. No, there is no backdoor, but that is not how they get you. These guys can easily hack past any security you may have on your internet through vulnerabilities or through ‘secret’ backdoors. They then can monitor anyones PC in real time. They don’t hack PGP (even though they can unless you put in a 68+ randomly generated character. they can brute force it in a matter of weeks), they just watch what you put in for a password, intercept a copy of the file and they gain access. If you are being watched, they will get what they need / want.
You want next level info? It is my belief that they can even monitor PC’s that are NOT on the internet. I am not sure exactly how this is being accomplished, but it is either some kind of Spectrum analyzer that can read electronic impulses from the keyboard and monitor, and make a graphic map of what you are doing, or some kind of micro transmitter that can be fitted into monitor or motherboard and transmit said data. My guess is both are active. They just need to sit somewhere with an antennae within transmit range. It has already been proven that keystrokes can be read remotely from PC’s not ‘wired’ in.
Rats. I liked the idea of some poor low-level GS-5 schmuck sitting in a windowless room tracking my gossipy, shopping, inspirational, recipes, etc. emails on a cheap Dell computer, bored out of his gourd, and only allowed to eat lunch when I turn off my computer. Only he and all 37 of my immediate and secondary female relatives would have the real scoop on who had to get married and who didn’t.
You are undoubtedly quite correct.