Open Source and Free Software

potone

(1,701 posts) Tue Jul 16, 2013, 09:03 AM Jul 2013

What is the best e-mail system to preserve privacy?

After all of the revelations about what the NSA has been doing, I am concerned about my privacy on the internet. I use Startpage for browsing, but my workplace uses gmail for e-mail, and it is monitored by my employers. I would like to set up another e-mail account that is private. I am not tech-savvy, as you can all probably tell, so I would appreciate advice on this.
Thanks in advance.
Potone

11 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

What is the best e-mail system to preserve privacy? (Original Post) potone Jul 2013 OP

Carrier pigeon. nt bananas Jul 2013 #1

It's not the email provider ChromeFoundry Jul 2013 #2

No such thing, really. TroglodyteScholar Jul 2013 #3

Open Source and Free Software bkdroid13 Dec 2019 #11

Tormail is good for anonymity sir pball Jul 2013 #4

Can we use Tor Browser on Democratic Underground Y-T Jan 2019 #8

It goes by the unlikely name I2P-Bote cprise Aug 2013 #5

Message auto-removed Name removed Dec 2018 #6

proton mail Y-T Jan 2019 #7

Thanks! potone Feb 2019 #9

I'm signing up this very moment Lonnie Mack Dec 2019 #10

bananas

(27,509 posts)

1. Carrier pigeon. nt

Reply to potone (Original post)

Tue Jul 16, 2013, 09:34 AM

Jul 2013

ChromeFoundry

(3,270 posts)

2. It's not the email provider

Reply to potone (Original post)

Tue Jul 16, 2013, 12:52 PM

Jul 2013

Emails are sent across the Internet in clear text. The NSA, or anyone else that has access to the traffic can capture your traffic. If you are sending emails, hypothetically, from Outlook.com to Gmail... it travels across the Internet backbone in clear text. You cannot control this unless you encrypt the content before uploading it to Outlook.com and have your recipient download the content to their local PC and decrypt it to view the contents. This is usually not practical when sending something to your Granny.

TroglodyteScholar

(5,477 posts)

3. No such thing, really.

Reply to potone (Original post)

Wed Jul 17, 2013, 09:14 PM

Jul 2013

You can encrypt the contents of your emails...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy

bkdroid13

(11 posts)

11. Open Source and Free Software

Reply to TroglodyteScholar (Reply #3)

Sun Dec 29, 2019, 05:43 AM

Dec 2019

Thanks

sir pball

(4,941 posts)

4. Tormail is good for anonymity

Reply to potone (Original post)

Fri Jul 19, 2013, 12:09 PM

Jul 2013

Tor Mail's goal is to provide completely anonymous and private communications to anyone who needs it.[1] The service provider owners declare they are anonymous and cannot be forced to reveal anything about a Tor Mail user.
Tor Mail service consists of several servers, this hidden service, and an incoming and outgoing internet facing mail servers - the relays, they relay mail in and out of the Tor network, they are disposable servers purchased anonymously and not traceable to user or service provider.
The owners declare the only things stored on the hard drive of those servers is the Exim mail server and the Tor software. No emails, logs or personal data are stored on those servers, thus it doesn't matter if they are seized or shut down. They claim to be prepared to quickly replace any relay that is taken offline for any reason.

I don't have time right now to explain the underlying Tor network (work awaits), but the Wikipedia article will get you started. It sounds much more complicated than it really is; you just download the Tor Browser and go.

Y-T

(19 posts)

8. Can we use Tor Browser on Democratic Underground

Reply to sir pball (Reply #4)

Wed Jan 23, 2019, 07:49 AM

Jan 2019

It made me nervous that Democratic Underground demanded cookies be enabled to join this site. Also that Google search is used to search the site. Duck-Duck-Go is better for privacy.

cprise

(8,445 posts)

5. It goes by the unlikely name I2P-Bote

Reply to potone (Original post)

Mon Aug 12, 2013, 03:13 AM

Aug 2013

Last edited Mon Aug 12, 2013, 04:23 AM - Edit history (1)

http://geti2p.net

Install this software on a *secure* system and when you get to the router console click on Secure Mail.

EDIT: You need to install the I2PBote plugin first.