[Freedombox-discuss] Email Encryption Basics

[Jonathan Wilkes]

----- Original Message -----

> From: Michael Rogers <michael at briarproject.org>
> To: Russell Edwards <russell at edwds.net>
> Cc: freedombox-discuss at lists.alioth.debian.org
> Sent: Monday, November 19, 2012 12:28 PM
> Subject: Re: [Freedombox-discuss] Email Encryption Basics
> 
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
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> On 17/11/12 10:48, Russell Edwards wrote:
>>  On 17/11/12 01:22, Michael Rogers wrote:
>>>  In the real world it's not possible to run a mail server on a
>>>  home broadband connection,
>> 
>>  Could have fooled me..!
>> 
>>  Works fine for me.
> 
> Sorry, I should have said "it's not possible to run a mail server on a
> home broadband connection using automatic configuration that works for
> more than 99% of users".
> 
> But my mental model of the FBX is a mass-market "privacy appliance". I
> get the impression no two people on this list have identical mental
> models of the FBX, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. :-)

First sentence from the front page of freedomboxfoundation.org:
"We're building software for smart devices whose engineered purpose 
      	is to work together to
		facilitate free communication among people, safely and securely,
		beyond the ambition of the strongest power to penetrate."

And the big red letters above that:
"Enabling private conversations online"

I believe Eben Moglen described it as something like, "Plug freedom in, turn freedom on."  A phrase like "privacy
appliance" is compatible with these descriptions; a phrase like "send plaintext emails from home-- offer varies based
on ISP details" isn't.

I'd still be happy to buy a FBX and sent plaintext emails from home in the initial stages of its development,
but in terms of mental models for the "enabling private conversations online" that ain't one of them.

-Jonathan