You receive feedback by hitting reply (message starts with "@Jim", for instance.). Then all common recipients see who the comments are directed to.
The privacy thing... *shrugs*. I got nothing to keep private, and I like the sense of connectedness. I appreciate the transparency of the whole thing. But, yes - of course you only share what you want to. Not sure what this has to do with being conservative either - other than maybe a heightened sense of big brother paranoia amongst some