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Email is missing chat. Email is missing encryption. Email is missing anonymity. Yet email is the last free, public, globally distributed network we have. Phones

Email is missing chat. Email is missing encryption. Email is missing anonymity. Yet email is the last free, public, globally distributed network we have. Phones, radio, even snail mail all have fees and oversight from a central source. I can totally see this project being combined with a "smart" encryption system (one that can tell when to encrypt emails to people that support it) to sit right on top of our current SMTP setup to provide "progressive enhancement" for apps that want to add these things to email.

deleted 10y ago
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pjc50 10y ago
Well, apart from the whole rest of the internet which is also free, public, and global. And email is only "free" because it's given away by ISPs and advertising companies. People have been hoping for encrypted email for decades. If it doesn't happen now, when "email server compromise" is a theme of the presidential contest, it's not going to happen. The key management is just too inconvenient.
- Xeoncross 10y ago
  The internet isn't a decentralized message system as much as it is a decentralized network for a variety of content types. > email is only "free" because it's given away Email is a free network because anyone can join the network and run an email server without paying "fees" or getting anyone's permission. Same as HTTP servers. (Apart from domain names which are "owned" by ICANN).
  - chrishacken 10y ago
    Well technically anyone can come up with some new protocol for messages and if everyone started using it, that would be free as well. "Email" isn't free, the protocols used are.
    - marcosdumay 10y ago
      Email is free, like HTTP. Whatsapp, for example, isn't free. I'd call it open, but the point is clear enough.
      - deleted 10y ago
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      - chrishacken 10y ago
        WhatsApp isn't a protocol, it's a service. Webhosting : http :: Email : imap Yes, you can get it for free, but it's a service provided by someone. Unless you setup your own server, which still costs money, it's technically paid. Gmail doesn't charge you for it because they're crawling your data and using it to serve you ads, so they make money through advertising instead of charging you.
jcrites 10y ago
> Email is missing encryption. Email is generally encrypted with TLS today. The Google Safer Email initiative's transparency page shows that 86% of emails sent from Gmail to other providers are encrypted, and 78% of messages coming into them are encrypted. https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/saferemail/ https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/saferemail/ Google has done a lot of good work driving encryption support in the industry through their efforts on Gmail with the Safer Email initiative. If you are communicating with a party that you can coordinate with, then you can arrange for encryption by ensuring that both of your servers support it. Communication from mail servers to mail user agents is also commonly encrypted. The percentages above should be understood to reflect a random sample of which senders/receivers already support encryption out-of-the-box, i.e. most of them. > Email is missing anonymity. This is generally undesirable in the email space because it cannot be reconciled with the need to prevent abuse (spam, malware, phishing). Having a strong sender identity is desirable so that there is accountability.
- Xeoncross 10y ago
  1. When I say encrypted, I mean Email is missing end-to-end encryption. In other words, the two (or more) parties participating in the discussion. That a carrier encrypts messages in transit is a nice start. PGP is not a solution for the masses yet. 2. Anonymity hasn't been reconciled, but that doesn't mean it cannot be.
stephenr 10y ago
> Email is missing encryption S/MIME and PGP are things that exist. Arguably the part that needs "fixing" is: a) improving S/MIME certificate issuance process and multi-device setup. b) supporting (or enabling by default) S/MIME in Email clients. PGP is more popular with technical users, but for most people I think S/MIME is a more appropriate model - we already trust CA's for HTTPS, and for the majority of people that is a better solution, as clients can then simply verify the message against an X500 certificate chain rather than needing to know how to fetch PGP keys and where to fetch them from.

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pjc50 10y ago

Well, apart from the whole rest of the internet which is also free, public, and global. And email is only "free" because it's given away by ISPs and advertising companies. People have been hoping for encrypted email for decades. If it doesn't happen now, when "email server compromise" is a theme of the presidential contest, it's not going to happen. The key management is just too inconvenient.

Xeoncross 10y ago
The internet isn't a decentralized message system as much as it is a decentralized network for a variety of content types. > email is only "free" because it's given away Email is a free network because anyone can join the network and run an email server without paying "fees" or getting anyone's permission. Same as HTTP servers. (Apart from domain names which are "owned" by ICANN).
- chrishacken 10y ago
  Well technically anyone can come up with some new protocol for messages and if everyone started using it, that would be free as well. "Email" isn't free, the protocols used are.
  - marcosdumay 10y ago
    Email is free, like HTTP. Whatsapp, for example, isn't free. I'd call it open, but the point is clear enough.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - chrishacken 10y ago
      WhatsApp isn't a protocol, it's a service. Webhosting : http :: Email : imap Yes, you can get it for free, but it's a service provided by someone. Unless you setup your own server, which still costs money, it's technically paid. Gmail doesn't charge you for it because they're crawling your data and using it to serve you ads, so they make money through advertising instead of charging you.

jcrites 10y ago

> Email is missing encryption. Email is generally encrypted with TLS today. The Google Safer Email initiative's transparency page shows that 86% of emails sent from Gmail to other providers are encrypted, and 78% of messages coming into them are encrypted. https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/saferemail/ https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/saferemail/ Google has done a lot of good work driving encryption support in the industry through their efforts on Gmail with the Safer Email initiative. If you are communicating with a party that you can coordinate with, then you can arrange for encryption by ensuring that both of your servers support it. Communication from mail servers to mail user agents is also commonly encrypted. The percentages above should be understood to reflect a random sample of which senders/receivers already support encryption out-of-the-box, i.e. most of them. > Email is missing anonymity. This is generally undesirable in the email space because it cannot be reconciled with the need to prevent abuse (spam, malware, phishing). Having a strong sender identity is desirable so that there is accountability.

Xeoncross 10y ago
1. When I say encrypted, I mean Email is missing end-to-end encryption. In other words, the two (or more) parties participating in the discussion. That a carrier encrypts messages in transit is a nice start. PGP is not a solution for the masses yet. 2. Anonymity hasn't been reconciled, but that doesn't mean it cannot be.

stephenr 10y ago

> Email is missing encryption S/MIME and PGP are things that exist. Arguably the part that needs "fixing" is: a) improving S/MIME certificate issuance process and multi-device setup. b) supporting (or enabling by default) S/MIME in Email clients. PGP is more popular with technical users, but for most people I think S/MIME is a more appropriate model - we already trust CA's for HTTPS, and for the majority of people that is a better solution, as clients can then simply verify the message against an X500 certificate chain rather than needing to know how to fetch PGP keys and where to fetch them from.