Interesting. I've never heard about it.
But I still do not get the idea: how the letters with "c/o" in the address line are different from those without it?
Interesting. I've never heard about it.
But I still do not get the idea: how the letters with "c/o" in the address line are different from those without it?
Another example of "c/o" -- a celebrated author publishes a short story in a magazine, and you want to send fan mail. You could address the envelope:
John Q. Famouswriter
c/o The Editors, Guns & Ammo & Fluffy Bunnies magazine
1234 Pretend St., New York, NY
...and hope that the editorial staff at the magazine will forward your mail to the author. (Far more likely, the mail will go to a secretary at the author's literary agency -- it depends on how famous the writer is).
In some countries mail gets delivered to the person whose name is in the letterbox not only to the address. If the person is not listed as living at the address - the mail will not be delivered. C/o field allows delivering mail to a person who lives at the address temporary but the letter will still be delivered to the person whose name is in the letterbox. However by law that person cannot keep the mail if it's c/o-ed to another person. For example in the US "It is a Federal crime and up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine to hide keep or open others peoples mail without permission"
As far as I know, this wouldn't be against the law in the U.S., unless (for example) you and your wife had gotten divorced, and the judge in the divorce case had specifically forbidden you to read her email, but you read it anyway, and your wife chose to bring a criminal charge against you. (But the crime would not be "чтение чужого мыла" -- it would be something more general like "contempt of court," I would guess.)
Also, if you worked at an Internet provider company and you were reading the private emails of customers, then possibly it might be a criminal matter. But it wouldn't necessarily be a Federal crime with a $250,000 fine, because that law applies to mail carried by the U.S. Post Office.
P.S. But IANAL!!
Говорит Бегемот: "Dear citizens of MR -- please correct my Russian mistakes!"
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