A communication system, method and communication terminal are configured to facilitate private outputting of content of a message or communication session. A communication terminal can be configured via data included in a message or via a privacy setting to output content of data from a communication session or message in accordance with a pre-selected privacy setting or one or more privacy rules. For instance, a communication terminal may be configured to suppress a text to speech function for certain text messages, email messages, instant messages, or social networking messages that it receives having the privacy parameter set therein. As another example, a user may set the privacy parameter in his or her terminal so that any such message received by that terminal is output in accordance with the privacy setting or rules. A detection of nearby people can affect how certain content may be output via a terminal.