On 6/14/2014 4:26 PM, grarpamp wrote:
On Sat, Jun 14, 2014 at 11:15 AM, Joe Btfsplk <[email protected]> wrote:
Using webmail vs. an email client (like Thunderbird) may not be as
convenient, but eliminating the client means one less thing that could
possibly compromise anonymity.
First, a 'webmail' browser (IE, FF, mac) and an 'email client' (outlook,
thunderbird, mutt) are each 'one thing', there are not two layered apps
there, and if you eliminate from 'one' you have zero.
Next, disagree!
Email client exposure is limited only to the message content and the
rigorous and simple SMTP/IMAP/POP message transfer protocols.
And you can use any console client to reduce risk of interpreting message bling.
Webmail exposes you to the message content, the HTTP transfer protocol,
plus whatever the hell else they want to jam down your browser to interpret
and execute via that. That's beyond bad! And the odds that a console browser
will work well (if at all) with your webmail service are basically zero.
follow the configurations and / or have security issues or information leaks.
Both of them can have these equally, so this is moot.
Moreso, browsers are risky code bloated overkill for email.
When using email clients, it's largely up to users to configure them (vs. TBB ),
And learn how to manually configure and test your stuff yourself first so
at least you have a clue how to verify that TBB, torbirdy, whatever are
actually working.
I was speaking of using TBB (not any old browser), so for *average*
users, TBB is more highly & professionally modified for anonymity than
most email clients would be (for average users).
If you disagree w/ that, then why use TBB at all?
Yes, some clients like Tbird can supposedly be configured to behave
anonymously - but perhaps not by average or below average users.
Torbirdy is still beta - & the dev warns about bugs. What ever email
client one uses over Tor, research it well & test all the possible ways
it can mess up, that you come across while doing research - IF...
anonymity is critical.
That's partly why I said (using TBB) on an email provider's webmail,
that outwardly respects users privacy, may be (not "will be") easier to
maintain anonymity than configuring Tbird and / or using beta software
like Torbirdy - for average users. If it were me & I was truly
concerned about anonymity, I wouldn't use TBB w/ Gmail, Yahoo, LiveMail,
etc. They are the *antithesis* of respecting privacy.
Why would anyone complain about bad behavior of Gmail & their ilk?
That's like trying to make your tent safe in a lion's den. Just don't
pitch a tent in a lion's den. There are lots of other choices.
Pick a provider off the Simple Computer list or others that have good
reputations for privacy. Again, anyone considering a privacy respecting
or security enhancing email provider, read their TOS & Privacy Policy -
well - to get the latest, accurate policies, then ask them questions, if
need be. Many allow using clients for POP or IMAP, but average users
will have to research a lot to make it anonymous through Tor.
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