what is "receiving illegal material through the mail"?
474537
Someone sent him (rather, he recieved/bought) something through the mail along the lines of stolen property, narcotics, illegal pornography, etc. I don't know what all would be covered under "illegal material" but I shudder to think.
481976
Definitely talk to your lawyer. It is illegal to take someone elses mail from their mailbox, so there may very well be a law about emails as well.
1110908
It is illegal. I quote U.S. Code, Title 18, Chapter 119, §2511:\n\n1 Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter any person who - (a) intentionally intercepts, endeavors to intercept, or procures any other person to intercept or endeavor to intercept, any wire, oral, or electronic communication;<snip> shall be punished as provided in subsection (4) or shall be subject to suit as provided in subsection (5). <snip>\n4 (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection or in subsection (5), whoever violates subsection (1) of this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.\n\nSo in principle, reading his e-mail without his permission gets you up to five years in a federal prison. You may also be subject to additional penalties under state law - contact your district attorney's office for details.\n\nDisclaimer: I AM NOT A LAWYER, THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.
679883
Throwing away ANYONE's mail is a violation of Federal Law - you can report the culprits to the United States Postal Inspection Service.\n\nGo to: http://www.usps.com/websites/depart/inspect/\nor call/walk in to your local post office to learn more.
252538
The Post Office delivers mail to an address, not a specific person at the address. This includes P.O. boxes.\nIt's either a freak occurrence or something else is wrong.
966192
It is fraud but give it to the postal service as it is their place to handle postal fraud.  The only  way the police will get involved is if it threatens you in some way.\n\nThe other option is to just trash it.
165467
Actually, you might not get either mail or protection. In an effort to deliver the mail, they could overlook those that needed to protection. In an effort to provide protection, they could overlook their duties to deliver the mail.
936068
Yes, it's called "receiving stolen property."
1115983
illegally on the internet somewhere
697309
Spam is illegal, friend.\n\nE-mail spam is a subset of spam that involves sending nearly identical messages to a few or thousands (or millions) of recipients by E-mail. Perpetrators of such spam ("spammers") often harvest addresses of prospective recipients from Usenet postings or from web pages, obtain them from databases, or simply guess them by using common names and domains. By popular definition, a spam message is an unwanted email that is sent without the permission of the recipient.\n\nSending spam violates the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) of almost all Internet Service Providers, and can lead to the termination of the sender's account. Many jurisdictions, such as the United States of America, which regulates via the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, regard spamming as a crime or as an actionable tort.\n\nArticle 13 of the European Union Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC) provides that the EU member states shall take appropriate measures to ensure that unsolicited communications for the purposes of direct marketing are not allowed either without the consent of the subscribers concerned or in respect of subscribers who do not wish to receive these communications, the choice between these options to be determined by national legislation.\n\nIn Australia, the relevant legislation is the Spam Act 2003 which covers some types of e-mail and phone spam.\n\nAccessing privately owned computer resources without the owner's permission counts as illegal under computer crime statutes in most nations. Deliberate spreading of computer viruses is also illegal in the United States and elsewhere.\n\nThus, some of spammers most common behaviors are criminal quite independently of the legal status of spamming per se. Even before the advent of laws specifically banning or regulating spamming, spammers have been successfully prosecuted under computer fraud and abuse laws for wrongfully using others' computers.
82935
If it has a stamp on, it is illegal, otherwise, it hasn't really become mail.
249213
Illegally -- How Else ???
1120430
According to the Post Office:\n\nChain letters are illegal if they request money or other items of value and promise a substantial return to the participants. Chain letters are a form of gambling, and sending them through the mail (or delivering them in person or by computer, but mailing money to participate) violates Title 18, United States Code, Section 1302, the Postal Lottery Statute.\n\nWhole article from United State Postal Service:  http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/chainlet.htm\n\nA chain letter is a "get rich quick" scheme that promises that your mail box will soon be stuffed full of cash if you decide to participate. You're told you can make thousands of dollars every month if you follow the detailed instructions in the letter. \n\nA typical chain letter includes names and addresses of several individuals whom you may or may not know. You are instructed to send a certain amount of money--usually $5--to the person at the top of the list, and then eliminate that name and add yours to the bottom. You are then instructed to mail copies of the letter to a few more individuals who will hopefully repeat the entire process. The letter promises that if they follow the same procedure, your name will gradually move to the top of the list and you'll receive money -- lots of it. \n\nThere's at least one problem with chain letters. They're illegal if they request money or other items of value and promise a substantial return to the participants. Chain letters are a form of gambling, and sending them through the mail (or delivering them in person or by computer, but mailing money to participate) violates Title 18, United States Code, Section 1302, the Postal Lottery Statute. (Chain letters that ask for items of minor value, like picture postcards or recipes, may be mailed, since such items are not things of value within the meaning of the law.) \n\nThey're also illegal via email:\n\nFrom the Federal Trade Commission website at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/emailusers.htm\n\nChain letters that involve money or valuable items and promise big returns are illegal. If you start a chain email or letter or send one on, you are breaking the law.\n  \nChances are you will receive little or no money back on your investment. Despite the claims, a chain letter will never make you rich.\n  \nSome chain letters try to win your confidence by claiming that theyre legal, or even that they're endorsed by the government. Nothing is further from the truth.\n  \nIf youve been a target of a chain email scam, contact your Internet Service Provider and forward the email to the FTC at: spam@uce.gov
260687
Trust me, if it were illegal, you would have recieved an email by now.
202027
I believe it's called mail-fraud.
899564
Well first, I'd say that's not a good idea. So don't do it and it's also illegal.  Second, even if you steamed it open, it would probably wrinkle the envelope and be obvious to the person who it's meant for.
37869
It seems to me that it would.  You have the option not to view it.  Many pieces of direct mail are never opened in my house; they go directly to the recycling bin.  I would think as long as the content wasn't in violation of any law, it would be protected as free speech.