EmailDiscussions.com - View Single Post

correo · 27 Dec 2016, 03:45 AM

Thanks for the feedback!
I definitely understand that email is fundamentally insecure. I'm also familiar with pgp and know how to use it with any provider. Though frankly I'm not super interested in using e2ee very often.

What I'm looking for is something akin to what a couple of providers offer. Some allow you to upload your public pgp key and set all incoming mail to be encrypted with it before it arrives in your inbox. That's fine and accomplishes my goal, but an approach I like better is what posteo allows you to do, which is they encrypt all incoming emails, attachments, meta data, everything, using your account password instead of your public key. The result of this encryption is that you alone can see this content, and the entire contents of your inbox are inaccessible to the email provider or anyone else who doesn't have your password (with posteo) or your private pgp key(with for example mailbox.org).

I respect what fastmail says about their approach to privacy, and I believe them. Nonetheless, if a law enforcement official showed up with a warrant or put a gun to their head, so to speak, they would be capable of turning over my plaintext emails. With the systems I describe from other providers, they are only capable of turning over encrypted data.

Additionally, I have checked out tutanota and proton, whose closed system certainly keeps everything secure, but seems extreme to ask people to abandon their normal platform and follow links just to read an email. I mean after all, I'm not doing anything sensitive, but I do like the idea of my inbox is for my eyes only. I have no illusions of being able to thwart any type of serious, governmental wire tapping situation, nor would that ever be aimed at me.

Anyway, thanks for your input.

p.s. Loved those ars articles, I read them as they were published. Totally pertinent to the discussion.

27 Dec 2016, 03:45 AM	#5
correo Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Posts: 10	Thanks for the feedback! I definitely understand that email is fundamentally insecure. I'm also familiar with pgp and know how to use it with any provider. Though frankly I'm not super interested in using e2ee very often. What I'm looking for is something akin to what a couple of providers offer. Some allow you to upload your public pgp key and set all incoming mail to be encrypted with it before it arrives in your inbox. That's fine and accomplishes my goal, but an approach I like better is what posteo allows you to do, which is they encrypt all incoming emails, attachments, meta data, everything, using your account password instead of your public key. The result of this encryption is that you alone can see this content, and the entire contents of your inbox are inaccessible to the email provider or anyone else who doesn't have your password (with posteo) or your private pgp key(with for example mailbox.org). I respect what fastmail says about their approach to privacy, and I believe them. Nonetheless, if a law enforcement official showed up with a warrant or put a gun to their head, so to speak, they would be capable of turning over my plaintext emails. With the systems I describe from other providers, they are only capable of turning over encrypted data. Additionally, I have checked out tutanota and proton, whose closed system certainly keeps everything secure, but seems extreme to ask people to abandon their normal platform and follow links just to read an email. I mean after all, I'm not doing anything sensitive, but I do like the idea of my inbox is for my eyes only. I have no illusions of being able to thwart any type of serious, governmental wire tapping situation, nor would that ever be aimed at me. Anyway, thanks for your input. p.s. Loved those ars articles, I read them as they were published. Totally pertinent to the discussion.