In today’s Quick Hits, Facebook plans a possible e-mail feature, an NYC official sues Google to reveal an anonymous blogger, and why hitting “send” means giving up control over your message.

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Facebook Announcing E-Mail Feature Today

Many tech analysts are predicting that Facebook will announce its own e-mail service today, creating a rival to Google’s popular Gmail service. If Facebook does announce the e-mail service as expected, one Silicon Valley analyst says it could “fundamentally change the nature of e-mail.” However groundbreaking the service may be, however, it still would carry Facebook’s negative stigma regarding privacy. As Melissa Bell explains in this article for the Washington Post, many users may be too concerned about the security of their personal data to use a Facebook e-mail service.

Baby Boomers Join Social Networks at Record Rates

A recent Pew Research study revealed that “social media use among internet users aged 65 and older grew 100 percent last year” and that “half (47 percent) of internet users aged 50-64 use social media now, an 88 percent growth from the previous year. ” This CBS News report examines why older generations are latching on to social media in higher numbers and interviews social media expert Brian Solis to learn more.

NYC Transit Chief Sues Google to Find Anonymous Attacker

New York City transit union chief John Samuelson has filed court papers demanding that Google reveal the identity of an individual who has been posting anonymous criticisms against him. According to CBS News, “Samuelsen says in court papers filed Friday that the blog has repeatedly defamed him with false accusations of incompetence and financial improprieties.” There is precedent for Samuelsen’s lawsuit. In the past couple of years, a handful of people have successfully sued Google to reveal their attackers (including ex-model Liskula Cohen). Successfully pursuing legal action against a large Internet company is beyond the reach of most normal people.

Boston Globe: Once You Hit Send, Privacy is Gone

This article from the Boston Globe explains how private online communications are never really private, as long as one party decides to forward the content on to someone new. Citing a number of examples, including the recent Cooks Source Magazine case, Joseph Kahn talks with several Internet and privacy experts including Michael Lerner who states simply, “An e-mail is as private as a postcard.”

Wall Street Journal: Forget Any ‘Right to be Forgotten’

In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, L. Gordon Crovitz voices his opposition to legislative regulations on data privacy issues, saying “regulators have no reason to dictate one right answer to these balancing acts among interests that consumers are fully capable of making for themselves.” In his op-ed, Crovitz also touches on the issue of censorship, discussing how a “Right to be Forgotten” as proposed in Europe recently necessarily involves the government censoring certain information.