British social care organization Kent Social Care Professionals (KentSCP) has exposed personal information of almost 200 of its patients via an email that was sent by mistake. The email, which was sent to care workers and the family members of patients, included sensitive information about patients included their names, addresses, phone numbers and key safe codes.

Terrorist organization ISIS reportedly emailed the family of photojournalist James Foley last week, threatening to kill the American reporter in response to U.S. bombings in Iraq. In the email, the kidnappers expressed their threats and anger but made no demands, according to GlobalPost, the media outlet where Foley was freelancing. The organization beheaded Foley then shared a video of the murder online this week.

Delaware Governor Jack Markell has signed legislation that gives heirs access to online accounts when a family member dies. Delaware is the first state to pass such legislation, though others seek similar measures. The new law will allow family members to access the email and social media accounts of their deceased loved ones in order to preserve memories.

Thomson Reuters is upsetting some of its publisher partners with an email it sent out asking for permission to promote a new content distribution model. The email explains that the media outlet plans to redistribute content and asks for permission. However, the email also says that if the publisher doesn't respond to the email within 14 days, then they will assume that they have permission which is upsetting some publisher partners including MediaNama, who republished the email critically.

Researchers at Columbia University have created a tool called X-Ray that lets email users see how their email data is turned into ads. The tool shows how correlations between certain keywords used by a user in their email will result in an ad alongside their inbox. The idea is to give consumers more transparency into how marketers use data to send targeted messages.

Social email app Front have almost closed a round of funding for $2.5 million from an anonymous group of Silicon Valley investors. The company revealed the news today at Y Combinator's Demo Day in Mountain View, CA. The company has already secured $1.5 million of the $2.5 million total, and they are expected to reach the target soon.

The San Francisco-based 16-year-old Abe Storey is developing a new startup which will focus on email security. The high schooler is getting ready to launch an email product called Lock Up Mail which offers both email encryption and authentication. The tool would allow email users to secure their Gmail and Yahoo accounts and make their passwords hard to crack using a self-deleting QR code image.

Web domain provider GoDaddy has acquired email marketing services firm Mad Mimi, in a deal whose terms were not disclosed. The email company provides email marketing tools for small businesses, competing with the likes of MailChimp. GoDaddy plans to bring the new tool to its small business customers.

Google is considering giving children under the age of 13 Gmail addresses. The junior email accounts would be run with parental control. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires tech companies to follow strict rules about collecting information about children under 13, which Google would have to comply with in order to allow these accounts to exist.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is very excited about his new job as owner of The Clippers. So much so that he yelled out his new email address, sballmer@clippers.com, at a crowded pep rally on Monday night. If a lot of people begin emailing Ballmer, it could potentially stress the team's servers.