But to the rescue for those who don't like to share their lives with the world around them I present you . . .
Mailpile.
They are attempting to create a secure email server that still maintains all the search functions and convenience of the larger engines like google and yahoo.
My dad was buying ammunition once and I asked him why he needed more. He replied, "I don't need more ammunition. I'm buying it because I can." I'm not sure how, but that seems to apply here fairly well.
2 comments:
It's not really clear from the web site if ManPile is just a client or a client and server. But in any case it must be remembered that email security is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain through which the email travels. Even if you host your own web server (which is not a simple thing to do for the average joe) and secure your locally stored messages, email travels over the internet in the clear unless you and your intended recipient(s) participate in encryption agreement such as provided with PGP or GnuPG. It looks like ManPile seeks to simplify the use of PGP, but again, in order for it to be of value, both sender and recipient(s) must use technology in order to exchange encryption keys.
There are (or were until recent shuttering forced by NSA et al) cloud services that offered "secure email" but while they encrypt/decrypt mail for storage/access, there is a point during the transaction of delivery and retrieval where the encryption key is intercept-able by anyone monitoring the network traffic, which renders the "security" null and void.
There are no easy solutions for email privacy today. Nevertheless, if you're interested enough, either check out PGP/GnuPG solutions. Or write your messages in some kind of document (Word, Notepad, etc), place the file in an encryption volume using TrueCrypt (free), and email the volume to your recipeints. The caveat with TrueCrypt is, again, the recipient must have TrueCrypt and must know the password you created for the encrypted volume.
Excellent response! Very informative. The internet seems a tangled net of intercrossing highways that only a few have time to grapple with and understand, which of course puts us all at a disadvantage. Personally I have nothing to hide, i so rarely use email except for business purposes that its irrelevant. But the idea of it all is rather annoying.
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