LEV519 In the Middle Ages, when the mail system expanded, Rabbenu Gershon (c. 960-1028, Germany) issued a decree prohibiting mail carriers and others from reading other people's mail lest they learn trade secrets or spread gossip, thus violating the prohibition of talebearing (this verse). According to the decree, violators would be subject to excommunication, even if they did not publicize the improperly read letter. He thus recognized privacy as an important value in its own right, apart from its importance in protecting people from harm. (Finkelstein (1924), 31, 171 ff. 18, 189. Encyclopedia Talmudit 7:153, nn. 877-904 at Herem d'Rabbenu Gershom (Hebrew), cites Ashkenazic and Sephardic codes and responsa that adapted and extended Rabenu Gershom's mail decree.