I'll never understand the need for a webmail account like GMail. I say this because it is too easy to set up your own email server where you have COMPLETE control over how much storage space you use, and what happens to your email. Granted, there are some costs involved to do this right, but it can be done for absolutely no charge (free domain name, free DNS hosting, etc.), and you DON'T need a static IP address, though that does make things easier. Installation of a mail server can take as little as 20 minutes, depending on what server you choose, and what capabilities you need. So, taking 5 minutes to sign up for GMail, and thereby being limited to ONLY 1 GB of storage, and potentially sharing private information, doesn't make sense to me. For a little bit more investment of my time, I get more storage, more privacy, and overall more control of how I use my email. Yes, the argument can, and has been made that not everyone is capable of doing this, but most people who use email also have contacts with technically capable people - I host some email addresses for friends and family as well, so they reap all the benefits too.
With regards to privacy, well, I always think of the training I received in the army for electronic warfare (many years ago now). The number one rule is simply this: "If you put information into a medium that can be intercepted, it WILL be intercepted". I am constantly amazed at the parallels I see in radio warfare, and Internet usage. The terms "spoofing" and "jamming" mean exactly the same thing in both worlds. The lesson I have personally learned from this is that if you want something secret, never put it in a publically accessible area - i.e. paper, web pages, email, word document, etc. I'd humbly suggest that anyone not familiar with electronic warfare do a google search for the term and start finding out how much a myth "privacy" is in the electronic age. A warning though - you'll likely be much more paranoid afterwards.... That all said, I see both sides of the fence. Google has the right to use THEIR system to generate a profit, using whatever data they have access too. The general public has the right to choose privacy and not use such a system, or determine this instance is not a concern for themselves. My thoughts (and only post of the topic). Shawn On Tuesday 02 November 2004 12:29, Aaron Seigo wrote: > On November 2, 2004 11:48, Ian Bruseker wrote: > > up a mail server with terabytes of space and get web access to it, but > > your average user is not that skilled. > > one of the reasons i work on the Free Software desktop is for the day (some > years from now) when any bumpkin will be able to clickety-click-click and > have all the services they could ever want without having to cow-tow to > anyone. _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
