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Re: On the security of e-mails



Daniel,

...Unless you encrypt to a public key belonging to everyone on the mailing
list, which certainly can be done, though this means distributing the
appropriate public/private key pair, so the keys themselves would also
have to be encrypted, probably to each individual user.

Of course, you could also implement something like a bulletin board on
HTTP over SSL instead... or maybe SMTP over SSL to each individual list
subscriber. (insecure; most subscribers don't run their own mail server)

Regards,

Alex.

---
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On Thu, 25 May 2000, Daniel Taylor wrote:

> The closest reliable method in that area is PGP encryption
> of e-mail.  In theory only those people who have the message
> signed with their public key will be able to read it.
> 
> In practice I haven't heard otherwise.
> 
> The only place where it isn't appropriate to encrypt (maybe only sign)
> is on public mailing lists.
> 
> Daniel Taylor                Embedded and custom Linux integration.
> dante@plethora.net           (612)747-1609
> 
> On Thu, 25 May 2000, Sergio Brandano wrote:
> 
> > 
> >  I would like to raise the problem of the security of electronic
> >  mail. The problem popped into my mind a while ago, while reading
> >  about Italian legislation on the privacy and, in particular, of
> >  paper mail. I always wanted to draw the issue to the attention of the
> >  ``hi spheres'', but I am now in the UK, and the whole thing went into
> >  the limbo. The problem is simply as follows: there is no legislation
> >  that enforces the privacy of electronic mail. On the practical side,
> >  there is no software method currently implemented at large that
> >  allows the receiver, and only the receiver, to read his/her own mail.
> >  The secure transmission of mail is part of the whole process.
> >  The similar issue can easily be extended to the Internet, where sites
> >  (from the very client to the very server) can record your preferences,
> >  as if there were a big brother that spies on you and writes all down.
> >  An immediate consequence of it are all the SPAM mail selling
> >  financial services...
> > 
> >  Sergio
> > 
> > 
> > --  
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-security-request@lists.debian.org
> > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
> > 
> 
> 
> --  
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-security-request@lists.debian.org
> with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
> 



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