[Discuss] Running a mail server, or not

[Richard Pieri]

On 6/25/2018 12:07 PM, Rich Braun wrote:
> Not mine, at least not in clear-text. Backbone providers only see
> encrypted streams between my email server and my service providers'
> systems located in France and Canada. I'm not aware of any government

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.

> surveillance that siphons off regular users' encrypted (SSL)
> transmissions for decryption later: there's just too much of that
> data for today's technology except for targeted cases where a
> government has reason to look at a specific data stream. (Remember,

Governments don't need to do that. All they need, assuming they care, is
a list of correspondents. Take the lot into custody and apply the
prisoner's dilemma.

> every SSL website prefixed https: uses the same type of encryption
> that my email server does.)


My take: email isn't private. Trying to make it private is a waste of my
time, and I have plenty of better things to waste my time on than this.

-- 
Rich Pieri