Think of a postcard. The postal workers involved in delivering it, if so inclined, can look at the picture on the postcard, the note you have scribbled on the back of it, and the name and address you sent it to. But with the millions of postcards delivered every day around the world, it is unlikely that anybody will go to the trouble of doing so. Postcards are very convenient and inexpensive for quickly sending a greeting, but for private or official correspondence, you will of course use an envelope. The envelope gives you the peace of mind of knowing that only you and your recipient will see your letter.

It is the same with e-mail. Mimi suggests that, for everyday correspondence, you don't write anything that you wouldn't write on a postcard. But sometimes, you will want to take extra steps to protect the privacy of sensitive correspondence. Read on to learn about how e-mail works, simple steps you can take to get "good enough" security for your e-mail and files, and sophisticated steps you can take to encrypt your most sensitive e-mail so that you are certain it is secure and private and your correspondent knows it is from you.

How e-mail works

We tend to equate e-mail with postal mail in our minds, and most of the time this is fine. We write our messages, send them off, and they are delivered to their destination address as expected. We can send copies to third parties and save a copy for our records. For the purposes of understanding e-mail privacy, though, it is worth keeping in mind that e-mail is different from postal mail in a significant way. Unlike a letter that is carried physically from post box to post office to post office to mail slot, an e-mail message is routed through the Internet by being copied from server to server until it reaches its destination mailbox. Unless it is encrypted (see below) these copies are made in plainly legible text.

There are two concerns that you might have in relation to this. First is that along the way, copies of your e-mail might end up in a number of places, including of course the computers used to send and receive the e-mail and the servers hosting the mailboxes on the Internet. If the servers have good backup systems in place, your e-mail will even be copied onto backup media. More copies might even be saved in other places that you don't know about as the e-mail is routed through servers on the Internet, including possibly (but doubtfully) servers being monitored by hackers or intelligence services.

The second concern is that though it is really quite unlikely to be an issue for most people, it is impossible to verify the integrity of e-mail you send and receive unless it is encrypted. This means that an e-mail you receive from an address you know might have been modified along the way or forged altogether by someone else - and you would never be able to tell the difference.

Commonsense Steps To Protecting your Privacy

Understanding that e-mail is inherently not private should not be a cause for concern if you take some simple, commonsense steps to protect yourself. There are millions of e-mail messages coursing through the Internet every day, and most of our day-to-day correspondence is really of no particular interest to third parties. That said, Mimi recommends that you use e-mail prudently.

• Don't accidentally let others access your account! Keep your password in a safe place, and change it frequently. If you use a cybercafe, take care that nobody is watching you log in, and be sure to click the logout button in your Webmail when you are finished. If you simply close the browser window, the next user might be able to log into your account and you wouldn't even know.
• Use secure connections wherever possible. If you are using Webmail, always ensure the address starts with https:// when you log in - this indicates that the connection between the computer you are on and the Webmail server is secure and private. Similar connections are possible in e-mail programs such as Outlook (look for keywords like Secure SMTP or SSL).
• Use hosting providers you trust. Since e-mail (unless it is encrypted) is stored in plain text in your mailbox on the server, the technicians managing the server can technically access your e-mail messages, even without knowing your password.
• Create an anonymous Webmail account. Free online services such as Yahoo! and Gmail do not require you to provide personal details about yourself, so you (and your correspondent) could have secret conversations with relative (but not perfect!) confidence that you are not being overheard and your identity is not known.

Serious about privacy? Use Encryption!

The steps above fall within the realm of "good enough" security for everyday use of e-mail. However, if you are engaged in sensitive advocacy work or for some other reason are particularly concerned with e-mail security, then the only remedy for you is to use encryption. According to Wikipedia, encryption "translates the e-mail's contents into incomprehensible text that, if designed correctly, can only be decrypted by the recipient."

The compelling thing about e-mail encryption is that once you have it configured successfully, your e-mail messages are stored and sent encrypted, so no matter where you host your e-mail mailbox you know that only you and your intended correspondents are able to access the e-mail contents.

Unfortunately installing an e-mail encryption system in your existing mailbox is still a relatively complicated process , and as a result it is not widely used on the Internet (even by those who are engaged in risky advocacy work and really should be encrypting their e-mail). It is possible however to make a quick start with encrypted e-mail using a service known as Hushmail. Hushmail (http://www.hushmail.com) is a free Webmail service similar to Yahoo or Gmail, except that it enables you to follow a simple setup wizard to set up an account and begin sending and receiving encrypted e-mails. Hushmail even allows you to require your correspondents to answer a secret question before they can read the contents of your e-mail to them.

Further Reading

• E-mail Privacy
• Public Key Cryptography
• Seizure of Indymedia Servers by FBI
• Step-by-step guide: Simple e-mail encryption using Microsoft Outlook