Yahoo, Google and Apple claim the right to look at users' emails "if necessary".

I don't think that this criterion of "protecting the property" of the company can be justified. However, there may be times when looking at users' files is necessary for the maintenance of the mail service itself.

In that sort of situation, I think the service operator must be allowed to do it. To prevent abuses, the sysadmins who do this should never be allowed to talk about what they have seen.

If the criteria are broader than that, we should oppose them.