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Further details can be found in a post by CBJ on the forum (the following conditions are from CBJ).
Conditions of use
A series of conditions govern whether the SETA may be activated. The main aims of which are to ensure the player receives incoming information they may wish to act on, and to limit it's potential for abuse/dependency. Suggestions have been made to limit the impact of incoming messages that seem relatively innocuous, such as wallet updates or mass order completion confirmations for groups of ships given the same order.
The SETA may not be activated, or will deactivate, under the following circumstances (CBJ, 2015):
• You are on a platform or otherwise away from your pilot seat.
• You are in a conversation or menu
• You receive an important event on your event monitor*
• Your ship is attacked.
• You fire a weapon or activate a scanner.
• Your jump drive is charging or active.
• You steer hard in any direction <reduced 'drop out of SETA' in v4 release>
• You stop your ship suddenly using the stop key (Backspace by default).
• Your ship is in close proximity to another object (except when autopilot is active).
• You collide with something (whether autopilot is active or not).
*v4 release: There is some controversy over whether this event is over-implemented. DEVs are aware & are working on and considering the issue, within the game engine's limitations <Sparky please provide beta forum link; I can't find it ATM.. - Snafu>(link).