Editing Mail (section)

=== Privacy and censorship ===
{{main|Postal censorship}}
[[File:IDET2007 StB steam envelope opener.jpg|thumb|"The Steamboat" – mobile steaming equipment used by Czech [[StB]] for unsticking of envelopes during correspondence surveillance]]
Documents should generally not be read by anyone other than the addressee; for example, in the United States of America it is a violation of federal law for anyone other than the addressee and the government to open mail.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1702.html |title=United States Code: Title 18, 1702. Obstruction of correspondence |publisher=Legal Information Institute of Cornell University Law School |access-date=September 14, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100904142937/http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1702.html |archive-date=September 4, 2010 }}</ref> There are exceptions however: executives often assign secretaries or assistants the task of handling their mail; and postcards do not require opening and can be read by anyone. For mail contained within an envelope, there are legal provisions in some jurisdictions allowing the recording of identities of sender and recipient.<ref name="deccan">[http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jan172006/panorama19352006116.asp Back when spies played by the rules] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311121314/http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jan172006/panorama19352006116.asp |date=2007-03-11 }}, ''Deccan Herald'', January 17, 2006. Retrieved 29 December 2006.</ref>

The privacy of correspondence is guaranteed by the constitutions of [[Constitution of Mexico|Mexico]], [[Constitution of Colombia|Colombia]], [[Constitution of Brazil|Brazil]] and [[Constitution of Venezuela|Venezuela]], and is alluded to in the [[European Convention on Human Rights]]<ref>Article 8(1): Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. {{cite web |url=http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/D5CC24A7-DC13-4318-B457-5C9014916D7A/0/EnglishAnglais.pdf |title=European Convention on Human Rights |access-date=2007-01-18 |archive-date=2009-01-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104073701/http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/D5CC24A7-DC13-4318-B457-5C9014916D7A/0/EnglishAnglais.pdf |url-status=live }}&nbsp;{{small|(179&nbsp;KB)}}</ref> and the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]].<ref name="deccan"/> The control of the contents inside private citizens' mail is [[censorship]] and concerns social, political, and legal aspects of [[civil rights]]. International mail and packages are subject to [[customs]] control, with the mail and packages often surveyed and their contents sometimes edited out (or even in).{{Citation needed|date=June 2013}}

There have been cases over the millennia of governments opening and copying or photographing the contents of private mail.<ref name="deccan"/><ref>[http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/churchfinalreportIIIh.htm CIA Intelligence Collection About Americans] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227114615/http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/churchfinalreportIIIh.htm |date=2008-12-27 }} (400&nbsp;KB download)</ref> Subject to the laws in the relevant jurisdiction, correspondence may be openly or covertly opened, or the contents determined via some other method, by the police or other authorities in some cases relating to a suspected criminal conspiracy, although [[Cabinet noir|black chamber]]s (largely in the past, though there is apparently some continuance of their use today) opened extralegally.

The mail service may be allowed to open the mail if neither addressee nor sender can be located, in order to attempt to locate either. Mail service may also open the mail to inspect if it contains materials that are hazardous to transport or violate local laws.

While in most cases [[Postal censorship|mail censorship]] is exceptional, [[military mail]] to and from soldiers is often subject to surveillance.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=History comes to life with censored covers |url=https://www.linns.com/news/postal-updates-page/history-comes-to-life-with-censored-covers.html |access-date=2022-10-28 |website=Linns Stamp News |language=en |archive-date=2022-10-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221028040159/https://www.linns.com/news/postal-updates-page/history-comes-to-life-with-censored-covers.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The mail is censored to prevent leaking tactical secrets, such as troop movements or weather conditions.<ref name=":0" /> Depending on the country, civilian mail containing military secrets can also be monitored and censored.<ref name=":0" />

Mail sent to and from inmates in jails or prisons within the United States is subject to opening and review by jail or prison staff to determine if the mail has any criminal action dictated or provides means for an escape. The only mail that is not able to be read is attorney-client mail, which is covered under the attorney-client confidentiality laws in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Blind Spot in Attorney-Client Confidentiality |url=https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/governmental_legislative_work/publications/washingtonletter/january_2020/bop-attorney-client/ |access-date=2022-07-01 |website=www.americanbar.org |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701213128/https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/governmental_legislative_work/publications/washingtonletter/january_2020/bop-attorney-client/ |url-status=live }}</ref>