[Discuss] Running a mail server, or not

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

Rich Pieri challenged me:
> 
> What kind of encryption is used on the backbone connections between your
> providers in France, Canada and mine in the US?
> 
> Answer: none. There's clear text SMTP in there somewhere and that
> somewhere can be used to eavesdrop.

False. The connections begin and end with STARTTLS. There is no clear text SMTP on the wire. An attack must be made against a server, or the encrypted stream between.

Prove me wrong.

-rich