Reply #5 TheButler's post
@TheButler, noticed your rating message...
Well I've not tried this myself, but you might be able to consider using the HushMail service if you only need a secure email replacement and limited amount of storage (unless you are willing to pay for more):
http://www.hushmail.com/services/hushmail/features/
Their Free service offers:
- 25 MB worth of storage
- it looks like you must access it via the web (although apparently it has an online mobile-friendly version of access as well);
- TOS pretty much says that you shouldn't try to use it for illegal purposes (common sense really)
Further reading seems to indicate that all emails will be encrypted such that even HushMail themselves would not normally be able to read your emails (unless they were court ordered to make an exception for your account):
http://www.hushmail.com/about/technology/how-it-works/
http://www.hushmail.com/about/technology/security/
http://www.hushmail.com/terms/free/
*edit* Actually I just signed up for the Free service now... It looks like you don't even need to tell them who you are or supply a backup email address. What I found:
- you log into your email much like any other online email service to me (i.e. pretty standard);
- you must absolutely remember what your own username and password, as otherwise you'll never get back in (there is no forgotten password feature because they won't even know the password);
- remember to sign in to your account at least once every three weeks for it to remain active;
- if you don't sign in regularly, then you will lose access to all the emails you had on that account unless you pay within the year for Hushmail Premium;
- As mentiond above, I think all emails you receive/sent will be stored encrypted on their server and unless compelled by laws/legal court order even Hushmail won't be able to access your email data (based on reading the following in their explanation of how it protects you:
"_But I thought the data was always encrypted_
When one Hushmail user sends an email to another Hushmail user, the body and attachments of that email are kept on our server in encrypted form, and under normal circumstances, we would have no access to that data. We can’t just pick an arbitrary encrypted email message off the server and read it. However, since Hushmail is a web-based service, the software that performs the encryption either resides on or is delivered by our servers. That means that there is no guarantee that we will not be compelled, under an order enforceable under the laws of British Columbia, Canada, to treat a user named in an order differently, and compromise that user’s privacy." ).
Hope this is simple enough for you 
PS: Other security features not directly intended for keeping your SO out of your business, but allow you to secretly discuss things with your recipient:
- when sending email from your Hushmail account, you have the option of "Encrypt Message" under "Message Options" tab, which will send an email to the recipient with a link back to Hushmail telling them there is a secure email to be read. As part of this process, you must send the email with a Question and Answer of your choice and then somehow let the recipient know of the correct answer to access the encrypted message online via the Hushmail link;
- Using it this way, the recipient will also have the option of signing up with Hushmail too and thus all future correspondence between you will be secured within Hushmail (see above about encrypted email data storage).
(https://help.hushmail.com/entries/250010-sending-email-to-people-who-do-not-use-hushmail )
- However, if you disable the "Encrypt Message" option, the recipient will be sent the email as per normal (i.e. whatever you write will be plainly readable by the recipient without need to log onto Hushmail's link). Your Hushmail account will store your sent email encrypted, but of course the recipient won't necessarily have the same setup. | |
