MyBB Community Forums

It is not a Federal Offense. It is not near like reading some else's mail. Saying email is like reading mail would even be a stretch. In fact, the U.S. Government is less restricted when it comes to the Internet. Police do not need a warrant to read our email like they do to read our mail. Because of 9/11 they can intercept our email and even use it against us for other things. Private messages are even less, if at all, recognized by law as being private.

As for administrators viewing it... it's on their server and unless they contract with you, electronically or otherwise, that they will not read your data, it is theirs to read. I do not necessarily think it is moral to do so, but it definitely is not unlawful.

Your idea of needing three reports... There is a way to forward messages... someone can just as easily forward the message to administrators so why does it make a difference if admins are forwarded messages when they are reported?

If someone says "This user's PMs are against the rules/are flames" then that user agrees (by default) that the admin has the right to read their PMs that are reported. The only problem is that the other person didn't agree.
But I think that most forums have some sort of protection for people via PMs. So if people are abusive over PMs, they've broken the rules. Maybe if someone creates this mod, if not already in (guessing not since noone has confirmed it), then should edit the agreement when they sign up?