Privacy conscious email providers

[680174c73b899Kolya]

In 2005, Sylpheed was forked to create Sylpheed-Claws, now known as Claws Mail.

[680174c73bd5csarge945]

In 2005, Sylpheed was forked to create Sylpheed-Claws, now known as Claws Mail.

Interesting


Although I find claws so lacking in features (I don't hold that against it, I get that that's it's purpose) that I was thinking of moving elsewhere anyway, but good to know that it's undergone the standard open source process of being forked multiple times.

[680174c73c037Kolya]

...
Then in Protonmail/settings/dashboard downgrade to a free account again (hidden again). Allegedly they will refund the money. We'll see about that.

Followup: Despite following their support instructions, Protonmail never refunded the money. Essentially they charged me to exit their service.

[680174c73c29ffox]

This is a German language article concerning European-wide plans for extremely drastic anti-privacy measures (in the name of child protection, as usual). Use DeepL or something like that, if you need translation.

heise.de: "Automatic scans of private user content planned"

Tech companies are to actively search for depictions of child abuse. To do this, they would have to undermine the encrypted communications of all citizens.

The plan is simply to implement constant monitoring/scanning of everybodys' local files ("on-device") by circumventing encryption and making it a legal obligation for the concerned tech companies to do so. Basically EU-controlled Anti-Cheat Extreme for every device and every citizen.

Which sounds like the pipe dream of a shameless simpleton (which it is), is apparently close to becoming reality already. That's what happens when you try to get rid of the village idiot by promoting he/she/it.

[680174c73c3f0Kolya]

I'm sure such plans exist. I'm doubtful whether they'll ever come to fruition though. The concerned companies would make a fuzz and then the public would too. Because people have begun to understand that encryption = privacy.

Also it's a really stupid idea and anyone with half a brain can see that. Even banning "killer games" wasn't that stupid and concerned far less people. And that still never happened.

[680174c73c677sarge945]

Guess it's time to self host. I already run a VPS so I should probably just whack a mail server on it.

Even banning "killer games" wasn't that stupid and concerned far less people. And that still never happened.

Except in Germany

[680174c73c95ffox]

I'm sure such plans exist. I'm doubtful whether they'll ever come to fruition though. The concerned companies would make a fuzz and then the public would too. Because people have begun to understand that encryption = privacy.

Also it's a really stupid idea and anyone with half a brain can see that. Even banning "killer games" wasn't that stupid and concerned far less people. And that still never happened.

Everybody said that about upload-filters (or many other recent drastic measures) too. Prepare to be amazed. Not to mention that a tech company like Apple already tried to do it on their own, even without any legal obligation.

[680174c73cac8sarge945]

There are only 2 things which are infinite: the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe.

At least where I live, anything privacy concerned is always perceived as "unnecessary" because "I've got nothing to hide". Usually the same people who make that argument are super surprised when their identity gets stolen or someone finds out something they shouldn't about them.

We still have a long way to go when it comes to encryption and privacy. Which sucks because other people's privacy decisions do affect me. I'm forced to use garbage like Messenger because my friends and family use it. My coworkers expect me to share files using Google Drive or even worse SharePoint.

[680174c73cd91fox]

I'm sure such plans exist. I'm doubtful whether they'll ever come to fruition though. The concerned companies would make a fuzz and then the public would too. Because people have begun to understand that encryption = privacy.

Consider this a preliminary stage:
 
heise: "Staatstrojaner: Provider sollen "höchstmögliche" Installationsgarantie geben"

[680174c73ced8Kolya]

I'm a bit confused how those sinister plans should work. In the end they need to get onto the local device where the messenger is running. How is the internet provider supposed to help them? At best the provider has access to the router, where communication is already encrypted and just passing through.

[680174c73d074fox]

That is indeed not entirely clear but the ability to control everything between two end-points can come in very handy for sure. I'm thinking of stuff like saving encrypted data for later analysis, camouflaging attacks, rerouting data traffic, gathering/providing data about possible attack vectors and what not. Basically almost every possible MITM-scenario. That's what this is about, I think.

Update: Although some states voted for it, that bill didn't pass - for the time being.

In other old news: "KAX17"