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What is keeping this service from getting shut down as well?

• dsl 13y ago
  It is a protocol, not a service.
  • cracell 13y ago
    Ha, that's a pretty bullet-proof way to not get shutdown. To expand a little bit for the less technical readers. This is about developing a new protocol for email, and an open source software package that supports that protocol for people to use it with. So in the end there will be a software package that you could install on a server yourself and use for emailing others using the protocol. Most likely some businesses will use the software and charge users for the service, just like what Lavabit was doing before it shutdown. So you could shutdown one provider, but you'll likely just make several new ones popup. This is similar to the war against bittorrent. You can shut down the trackers and the sites where people find the torrents but new ones will just appear.
    • socksy 13y ago
      I think chances are, the readers of HN already know the difference between a protocol and a service. And the benefit you listed is already one given to email — the reason that lavabit was shut down was because the guy behind it didn't want to provide a service he knew to be flawed, in that the US government could request details about users. The question is, how does this protocol have it built into it in such a way that both allows anonymity and so that providers can pop up in their place, as you say?