Help Delayed email to police

[LogicalConclusion]

Hey all, my partner's birthday has arrived and now I feel like my (still undetermined) ctb date is drawing much closer. This was the biggest event I was waiting for. So now I am working on messages/emails/etc. I did a test with gmail to send a delayed email to myself just to see if I could cancel it (I can). Now my concern is this: If I send a delayed email to the police, will it be delayed? Or is there some kind of protocol they have that would allow them to receive it immediately? I need to know this to determine whether or not to send them an email or to send one to a friend telling them to contact the police with a pre-written message. I am in the US. Any help is appreciated. Thanks :)

 

[RainAndSadness]

Hey all, my partner's birthday has arrived and now I feel like my (still undetermined) ctb date is drawing much closer. This was the biggest event I was waiting for. So now I am working on messages/emails/etc. I did a test with gmail to send a delayed email to myself just to see if I could cancel it (I can). Now my concern is this: If I send a delayed email to the police, will it be delayed? Or is there some kind of protocol they have that would allow them to receive it immediately? I need to know this to determine whether or not to send them an email or to send one to a friend telling them to contact the police with a pre-written message. I am in the US. Any help is appreciated. Thanks :)

I'm not sure but I'm gonna do the same. I use Boomerag for my emails and it worked for me.

 

[Coolchicka]

I would try asking on reddit.

 

[LogicalConclusion]

I would try asking on reddit.

Hmmm...do you have any suggestions on what subreddit? I'd just be worried about having someone called on me or something or getting in trouble somehow. I think I'd need a good excuse for why I want to send a delayed message to police, but can't think of one.

 

[kuddelmuddel23]

I will also use delayed emails to inform the police and did some research.

Delayed emails will remain in your outbox until the specified date and time is correct. Only then will they leave the outbox and be sent. So it is impossible for the police to get the emails any earlier since they are not yet registered in any system. All emails are treated the same, there is no protocol only for police or authorities.

Boomerangmail for gmail will work just fine for that as @RainAndSadness mentioned.

 

[LogicalConclusion]

I will also use delayed emails to inform the police and did some research.

Delayed emails will remain in your outbox until the specified date and time is correct. Only then will they leave the outbox and be sent. So it is impossible for the police to get the emails any earlier since they are not yet registered in any system. All emails are treated the same, there is no protocol only for police or authorities.

Boomerangmail for gmail will work just fine for that as @RainAndSadness mentioned.

Ah, thanks so much, that's relieving! :) Although I do have one question: Is Boomerangmail necessary? I sent a delayed email to myself using just regular Gmail so I'm not sure if there's some benefit to the app or if it's pretty much the same thing? Again, thanks so much, it's been difficult to research things so I appreciate the info! ^_^

 

[kuddelmuddel23]

Ah, thanks so much, that's relieving! :) Although I do have one question: Is Boomerangmail necessary? I sent a delayed email to myself using just regular Gmail so I'm not sure if there's some benefit to the app or if it's pretty much the same thing? Again, thanks so much, it's been difficult to research things so I appreciate the info! ^_^

No, it's not absolutely necessary. The normal functionality of Gmail is also sufficient. But for me Boomerangmail is more pleasant to use. However, this is only a personal preference.

 

[lululoo]

I read in some other thread that boomerang was unsafe so I opted for later.io. However I don't know if it's true, I was just trusting what that person said.

 

[TiredHorse]

Be careful with Gmail: Google openly acknowledges that they scan emails sent through their service in order to use your data for marketting purposes. Given the increased societal awareness of suicidality, there's a chance their algorithms may flag your email and bring it to someone's attention. Facebook is very proud to have rolled out an algorithm that flags possible suicidal posts --I posted the article on it here several months ago; I'm sure a websearch will turn up more info, too-- and I wouldn't be surprised if Google is doing the same in the name of "social responsibility."

The big question then is when does Google scan your emails? If it is only when they are sent, there should be no trouble: by the time your delayed email is sent to the police, you'll already be dead. However, if they scan emails that are still in the queue to be sent on delay, you may have problems.

To that end, I use LetterMeLater for delayed emails: it's independant of Gmail, so I like to think they don't scan. I've used them for a couple of attempts --and cancelled the emails in the queue-- without repercussions, so can confidently recommend them for the purpose. I know emails sent through them reach the local police, too: I sent test emails via them on a couple innocuous subjects --asking about reporting illegal fireworks use, I think-- and my emails apparently went through just fine. Some email-delay services get flagged as spam, and your email never arrives.

DO NOT use Timecave: not only did their services get most of my emails flagged as spam (though not the test emails to the police), they read my email to the police several hours after I supposedly cancelled and deleted it, and then forwarded it to the police! I had some fast talking to do when an officer showed up at my door for a "welfare check," after "information was found on my computer that implied I was suicidal." Everything ended well, but it was quite tense for a while. That episode was what inspired me to change from lurker to member here, so I could post my account of it as a warning.

 

[LogicalConclusion]

@TiredHorse Wow, I'm so sorry you had that experience. Thank you for sharing, I appreciate it. I was very concerned that they would scan e-mails and send someone. I'll look into LetterMeLater. Have been considering just sending a delayed email to my friend with attachments (like one of a pre-written message telling police to take care of my body, etc) to forward to specific email addresses or whatever. Do you think that would work better? Would they scan the attachments?

 

[Gavr1212]

Be careful with Gmail: Google openly acknowledges that they scan emails sent through their service in order to use your data for marketting purposes. Given the increased societal awareness of suicidality, there's a chance their algorithms may flag your email and bring it to someone's attention. Facebook is very proud to have rolled out an algorithm that flags possible suicidal posts --I posted the article on it here several months ago; I'm sure a websearch will turn up more info, too-- and I wouldn't be surprised if Google is doing the same in the name of "social responsibility."

The big question then is when does Google scan your emails? If it is only when they are sent, there should be no trouble: by the time your delayed email is sent to the police, you'll already be dead. However, if they scan emails that are still in the queue to be sent on delay, you may have problems.

To that end, I use LetterMeLater for delayed emails: it's independant of Gmail, so I like to think they don't scan. I've used them for a couple of attempts --and cancelled the emails in the queue-- without repercussions, so can confidently recommend them for the purpose. I know emails sent through them reach the local police, too: I sent test emails via them on a couple innocuous subjects --asking about reporting illegal fireworks use, I think-- and my emails apparently went through just fine. Some email-delay services get flagged as spam, and your email never arrives.

DO NOT use Timecave: not only did their services get most of my emails flagged as spam (though not the test emails to the police), they read my email to the police several hours after I supposedly cancelled and deleted it, and then forwarded it to the police! I had some fast talking to do when an officer showed up at my door for a "welfare check," after "information was found on my computer that implied I was suicidal." Everything ended well, but it was quite tense for a while. That episode was what inspired me to change from lurker to member here, so I could post my account of it as a warning.

Thank you for sharing this. It is useful information.

 

[kuddelmuddel23]

Be careful with Gmail: Google openly acknowledges that they scan emails sent through their service in order to use your data for marketting purposes. Given the increased societal awareness of suicidality, there's a chance their algorithms may flag your email and bring it to someone's attention. Facebook is very proud to have rolled out an algorithm that flags possible suicidal posts --I posted the article on it here several months ago; I'm sure a websearch will turn up more info, too-- and I wouldn't be surprised if Google is doing the same in the name of "social responsibility."

The big question then is when does Google scan your emails? If it is only when they are sent, there should be no trouble: by the time your delayed email is sent to the police, you'll already be dead. However, if they scan emails that are still in the queue to be sent on delay, you may have problems.

To that end, I use LetterMeLater for delayed emails: it's independant of Gmail, so I like to think they don't scan. I've used them for a couple of attempts --and cancelled the emails in the queue-- without repercussions, so can confidently recommend them for the purpose. I know emails sent through them reach the local police, too: I sent test emails via them on a couple innocuous subjects --asking about reporting illegal fireworks use, I think-- and my emails apparently went through just fine. Some email-delay services get flagged as spam, and your email never arrives.

DO NOT use Timecave: not only did their services get most of my emails flagged as spam (though not the test emails to the police), they read my email to the police several hours after I supposedly cancelled and deleted it, and then forwarded it to the police! I had some fast talking to do when an officer showed up at my door for a "welfare check," after "information was found on my computer that implied I was suicidal." Everything ended well, but it was quite tense for a while. That episode was what inspired me to change from lurker to member here, so I could post my account of it as a warning.

Wow. Wow. So I knew that Google doesn't take privacy too seriously and scans emails as well. But I didn't know that there were even filters for suicide keywords. I would have thought that Google is interested in purely marketing relevant information. Thank you for sharing your experiences!

One way, of course, would be to simply encrypt the message with PGP and attach the private key to the email. I think that's how I'll do it when the time comes. That would be a way past the automatic filters.

 

[Gavr1212]

Wow. Wow. So I knew that Google doesn't take privacy too seriously and scans emails as well. But I didn't know that there were even filters for suicide keywords. I would have thought that Google is interested in purely marketing relevant information. Thank you for sharing your experiences!

One way, of course, would be to simply encrypt the message with PGP and attach the private key to the email. I think that's how I'll do it when the time comes. That would be a way past the automatic filters.

Yes, this is a good method. I doubt their filter is set up to scan public keys to apply to a message in the same email so it can parse it first. Although I would not be surprised if they add something like that eventually. You could probably send the key in a separate email to be sure.

 

[PBis]

I was thinking of just sending a note in an envelope with the keys, should take 1 working day to arrive - would that be a bad idea?

 

[Gavr1212]

I was thinking of just sending a note in an envelope with the keys, should take 1 working day to arrive - would that be a bad idea?

Definitely expect a visit, a major intrusion, and possibly forced hospitalization if you don't go through with it.

 

[TiredHorse]

@TiredHorse Wow, I'm so sorry you had that experience. Thank you for sharing, I appreciate it. I was very concerned that they would scan e-mails and send someone. I'll look into LetterMeLater. Have been considering just sending a delayed email to my friend with attachments (like one of a pre-written message telling police to take care of my body, etc) to forward to specific email addresses or whatever. Do you think that would work better? Would they scan the attachments?

I seriously doubt Google would --or even could (technically or legally)-- scan an attached document. That's a brilliant work-around to the problem --kudos to you! It relies on bringing another person into the loop, but if that isn't an obstacle, I would commend that protocol to anyone using Gmail.

But I didn't know that there were even filters for suicide keywords.

I don't KNOW for certain that there are --my concerns may simply be paranoia on my part-- but after Facebook publically rolled out suicide language filters, and Amazon started checking for suicidality on certain purchases, I would be surprised if Google hasn't at least considered it, if they haven't already implemented it.

I'm just suggesting that people use considerable caution. It's too easy to imagine electronic communications are more secure than they actually are.

One way, of course, would be to simply encrypt the message with PGP and attach the private key to the email. I think that's how I'll do it when the time comes. That would be a way past the automatic filters.

PGP --or GPG-- is the gold standard for encryption, but I have found, when using it, that it baffles a lot of people to where it becomes more hindrance than it's worth. I have no idea how well the recipients of your emails would react to it; that's very much a case-by-case situation.

I was thinking of just sending a note in an envelope with the keys, should take 1 working day to arrive - would that be a bad idea?

Sounds great to me. Snail-mail is still far and away the most secure form of communication for the vast majority of us. The only difficulty is that you cannot cancel it if your attempt goes awry and you end up alive. At that point, as @Gavr1212 says, the cat is out of the bag and you can expect a full-scale interventionist response.

 

[PBis]

I get it now... the delayed e-mail gives you some room in case of doubt or failure. Good thing to consider.

 

[LogicalConclusion]

@TiredHorse Thanks so much! :D Really, I'm just lazy and that's why I'd send attachments x) Didn't know it could make things more secure. But I'm glad that it probably is! My friend will be getting the unfortunate burden of managing my affairs (but I'm leaving almost everything to him) so he'd be involved either way; sending it to him would just ensure that the police aren't alerted somehow ahead of time with the added bonus that I can cancel it if I somehow fail/mess up. Then I can just try again when I'm ready :) Really sets things up for my own pace and makes me feel more secure

@PBis I mean...I think it would depend on your method. Personally I feel that a delayed email is better simply because you can cancel it if needed for some reason. It would be awful to feel rushed or panicked that you might fail, or having some kind of "intervention"

 

[PBis]

@LogicalConclusion I think it's a very good idea! And with TiredHorse's brilliant attachment idea, basically fail-proof. I'm reasonably confident though, so i'll have to see if i think it's worth the extra "trouble".

side note: i keep getting thrown out of the forum between posts, it's driving me nuts! EDIT: closing the login popup & trying again several times does the trick. Sometimes. Anyway, useful thread this.

 

[wanttodie]

how do you post a

delayed email ​

 

[TAW122]

I second @TiredHorse when it comes to delayed emails as well as @LogicalConclusion's idea of attachments. I believe that if I were sending it to certain people, even outside of family (but those who know me IRL), I would not want to use a foreign email like LetterMeLater only because they might not open the email from an email address they don't recognize or know. However, I may use my main email to tell them to expect an email, or whatever works in certain circumstances.

I do know that if I am writing it, I will keep it in a hidden away flashdrive (only I can access it) or on my laptop/computer (password protected of course) and the filename to something unrelated to CTB or death, rather innocuous (this way in the rare but possible event that someone stumbled upon it, they wouldn't bat any eye or raise any red flags).

 

[lululoo]

I second @TiredHorse when it comes to delayed emails as well as @LogicalConclusion's idea of attachments. I believe that if I were sending it to certain people, even outside of family (but those who know me IRL), I would not want to use a foreign email like LetterMeLater only because they might not open the email from an email address they don't recognize or know. However, I may use my main email to tell them to expect an email, or whatever works in certain circumstances.

I do know that if I am writing it, I will keep it in a hidden away flashdrive (only I can access it) or on my laptop/computer (password protected of course) and the filename to something unrelated to CTB or death, rather innocuous (this way in the rare but possible event that someone stumbled upon it, they wouldn't bat any eye or raise any red flags).

I don't know about lettermelater, but later.io doesn't look like a foreign email. It shows up as your email address, just has a little "via later.io" tagged on. And it doesn't get sent to spam. So I don't see why the person receiving it wouldn't open it.

 

[PBis]

@LogicalConclusion's idea of attachments

It is. Sorry I missed that, really need to pay more attention!

 

[RM5998]

I'd suggest putting the key in the body of the email and the actual message as an attachment. That would probably let you alter the email more easily since all you need to do is change the attachment if you want/need a second attempt.

 

[TiredHorse]

I don't know about lettermelater, but later.io doesn't look like a foreign email. It shows up as your email address, just has a little "via later.io" tagged on. And it doesn't get sent to spam. So I don't see why the person receiving it wouldn't open it.

As far as I know, all email delay services use your existing email address, so it always appears to come from you, not from some unknown address. The only artifact LetterMeLater shows is a footer they append to every email saying it has been sent through LetterMeLater.

However, your emails will come from a different IP address than usual --an IP address specific to the delay service's server-- and sometimes other email services (Earthlink, etc.) who receive the delayed emails, flag that IP address as a spam-bot --I assume because so many emails emerge from that one IP address that it sets off alarms.

Again, I didn't have any trouble with LetterMeLater, but TimeCave was very hit-or-miss whether people would receive the delayed emails I sent them. In other words, emails sent through TimeCave often got kicked into the recipients' spam/junk folders where LetterMeLater emails went through just fine.

 

[not_a_robot]

Be careful with Gmail: Google openly acknowledges that they scan emails sent through their service in order to use your data for marketting purposes. Given the increased societal awareness of suicidality, there's a chance their algorithms may flag your email and bring it to someone's attention. Facebook is very proud to have rolled out an algorithm that flags possible suicidal posts --I posted the article on it here several months ago; I'm sure a websearch will turn up more info, too-- and I wouldn't be surprised if Google is doing the same in the name of "social responsibility."

The big question then is when does Google scan your emails? If it is only when they are sent, there should be no trouble: by the time your delayed email is sent to the police, you'll already be dead. However, if they scan emails that are still in the queue to be sent on delay, you may have problems.

To that end, I use LetterMeLater for delayed emails: it's independant of Gmail, so I like to think they don't scan. I've used them for a couple of attempts --and cancelled the emails in the queue-- without repercussions, so can confidently recommend them for the purpose. I know emails sent through them reach the local police, too: I sent test emails via them on a couple innocuous subjects --asking about reporting illegal fireworks use, I think-- and my emails apparently went through just fine. Some email-delay services get flagged as spam, and your email never arrives.

DO NOT use Timecave: not only did their services get most of my emails flagged as spam (though not the test emails to the police), they read my email to the police several hours after I supposedly cancelled and deleted it, and then forwarded it to the police! I had some fast talking to do when an officer showed up at my door for a "welfare check," after "information was found on my computer that implied I was suicidal." Everything ended well, but it was quite tense for a while. That episode was what inspired me to change from lurker to member here, so I could post my account of it as a warning.

Thank you for addressing this. I have been deliberately ignoring this thread because I get tired of people calling me paranoid or unrealistic when I try to explain this shit.

 

[dysphoria]

When I attempted suicide, I used Boomerang for Gmail to send a 5-day delayed email containing a suicide note. I thought it was a good idea, and could be cancelled at any time. Well, turns out it's quite hard to cancel emails in a coma, so everyone got my final words as I lay there being mechanically ventilated. The emails got sent out fine though. If you were really concerned about Google, you could create an account on a VPN and remove any personally identifiable information in the suicide note. Or post the suicide note somewhere else like Pastebin, or host a page somewhere, and just include a link to it in the email - Google will just see a link.

 

[Intelligent_Lobster]

Hmmm...do you have any suggestions on what subreddit? I'd just be worried about having someone called on me or something or getting in trouble somehow. I think I'd need a good excuse for why I want to send a delayed message to police, but can't think of one.

r/morbidquestions

 

[letmeseethedeath]

I will also use delayed emails to inform the police and did some research.

Delayed emails will remain in your outbox until the specified date and time is correct. Only then will they leave the outbox and be sent. So it is impossible for the police to get the emails any earlier since they are not yet registered in any system. All emails are treated the same, there is no protocol only for police or authorities.

Boomerangmail for gmail will work just fine for that as @RainAndSadness mentioned.

hey guys, anybody know if it works in italy?

 

[Bjsnode28]

I don't completely trust a delayed email because my luck it wouldn't work. Like it would go immediately or not at all or end up in their spam folder. When I ctb I'm going to schedule a text message. It's much more reliable and I've tested it so I feel good about it