4 ms·

Doesn’t self-hosting also have privacy downsides, being that all the hardware is tied to you? I’d imagine whatever minor resistance to wiretapping a multiuser s

Doesn’t self-hosting also have privacy downsides, being that all the hardware is tied to you? I’d imagine whatever minor resistance to wiretapping a multiuser site gave regarding privacy of non-investigated individuals would disappear.

RussianCow 5y ago
It depends on your threat model. If you’re worried about big companies like Google harvesting your data, self-hosting is a great solution because you remove them from the equation entirely. On the other hand, if you’re worried about three-letter government agencies, you need to go through much more extreme measures. Most people aren’t as concerned with the latter, though.
- caymanjim 5y ago
  This is why I self-host. I'm not trying to hide from the government, as I know they don't care about me. Sure, in principle I don't want them snooping me, but it's not a concern. I self-host because I don't want companies snooping all my data.
BostonEnginerd 5y ago
The 1986 electronic privacy act consider emails older than 180 days old to be “abandoned” and do not require a warrant to access. Self-hosting at least means that this should not apply, I think.
- artificial 5y ago
  From what I can see there was a House resolution passed in 2017 which protects email. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/05/email-privacy-act-comes-back-hopefully-stay https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/05/email-privacy-act-come...
  - pseudalopex 5y ago
    It never passed the Senate.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_Privacy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_Privacy_Act
bsder 5y ago
> Doesn’t self-hosting also have privacy downsides, being that all the hardware is tied to you? Sure. But I'm not worried about someone who has an actual warrant for ME getting at stuff. What I want to stop is some random law enforcement idiot from Dipshitsville, Texas, from sending an electronic request to Google for "every email with the word "abortion" and "protest" in it" who promptly turns over all my email. If you want my email, you're gonna have to get up off your chair, file a warrant with somebody's name on it in front of a judge, crossfile in some different legal jurisdictions, and have someone come seize my machines. That will stop most everybody short of NSA. If your threat is the NSA, you're screwed anyway. If they can't get at your email legitimately, they'll just fabricate the evidence they need against you.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > If your threat is the NSA, you’re screwed anyway. If they can’t get at your email legitimately, they’ll just fabricate the evidence they need against you. The NSA doesn’t need evidence; you must have them confused with the FBI.

RussianCow 5y ago

It depends on your threat model. If you’re worried about big companies like Google harvesting your data, self-hosting is a great solution because you remove them from the equation entirely. On the other hand, if you’re worried about three-letter government agencies, you need to go through much more extreme measures. Most people aren’t as concerned with the latter, though.

caymanjim 5y ago
This is why I self-host. I'm not trying to hide from the government, as I know they don't care about me. Sure, in principle I don't want them snooping me, but it's not a concern. I self-host because I don't want companies snooping all my data.

BostonEnginerd 5y ago

The 1986 electronic privacy act consider emails older than 180 days old to be “abandoned” and do not require a warrant to access. Self-hosting at least means that this should not apply, I think.

artificial 5y ago
From what I can see there was a House resolution passed in 2017 which protects email. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/05/email-privacy-act-comes-back-hopefully-stay https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/05/email-privacy-act-come...
- pseudalopex 5y ago
  It never passed the Senate.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_Privacy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_Privacy_Act

bsder 5y ago

> Doesn’t self-hosting also have privacy downsides, being that all the hardware is tied to you? Sure. But I'm not worried about someone who has an actual warrant for ME getting at stuff. What I want to stop is some random law enforcement idiot from Dipshitsville, Texas, from sending an electronic request to Google for "every email with the word "abortion" and "protest" in it" who promptly turns over all my email. If you want my email, you're gonna have to get up off your chair, file a warrant with somebody's name on it in front of a judge, crossfile in some different legal jurisdictions, and have someone come seize my machines. That will stop most everybody short of NSA. If your threat is the NSA, you're screwed anyway. If they can't get at your email legitimately, they'll just fabricate the evidence they need against you.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> If your threat is the NSA, you’re screwed anyway. If they can’t get at your email legitimately, they’ll just fabricate the evidence they need against you. The NSA doesn’t need evidence; you must have them confused with the FBI.