[dailen]

Most email providers have some sort of ability to seeing raw data. That's the problem with email protocols, not the company. When necessary it's largely used for legal purposes (i.e. think subpoenas or court evidence in general), virus tracking (finding who got the first one or first to open "that email"), technical issues, etc.

I can personally say I know how sift through probably 5 or 6 different email systems or providers for this kind of data. It may seem "creepy", it did to me at first, but after awhile you realize, in business at least, there's really nothing of interest. Probably only like 99.999% of emails exchanged will have nothing incriminating, embarrassing, or even worth reading. It's kind of like being the key holder for a safe. Someone's gotta be the keyholder and be able to access the data for when necessary. Sometimes there's an inherent level of trust required and usually they just dgaf what's there.

It's kind of like a virtual manifestation of the "IT Closet" that almost all companies have. A bunch of places I've worked there's a office or closet where all the old PCs, laptops, and hard drives get stashed away. All the IT staff get access, and yes the could go rummaging around looking for personal pics, old tax records, etc, most of the time it's just not a valid concern worth anyone's time to steal or protect.