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Old March 13th 18, 03:40 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Mayayana
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Posts: 6,438
Default MS unwanted updates tonight...

"Tim" wrote

| If I was really concerned about it I could register a domain name, start
| up my own IMAP mail server, and happily send and receive email to my very
| own Thunderbird client. But of course that would only secure my end from
| prying. Anyone sending or receiving email from me would have to do the
| same, or use one of the common portals like gmail or yahoo or etc., etc.,
| etc., and it would still be subject to being scanned by third parties.
| The only way to fully eliminate that would be to have all my mail
| encrypted, which would work for the few people I correspond with, but at
| the current time would be totally unworkable for the majority of the
| emails I receive.

Good points. When Google faced a class action
lawsuit from non-gmail users their defense was
that the people had no case because they should
know that Google is a spyware company, therefore
they had no "expectation of privacy".

"Sure, I broke in and stole their jewelry, your honor.
But I'm a thief. Everyone knows that. So no one
has any reasonable right to expect that I won't steal
their stuff. Therefore, please dismiss this case."

I don't know how that case turned out, or if it's
over. I'd guess the class action probably failed,
simply because it would be too disruptive to business
to let it succeed.

Encryption is actually becoming common. Pretty
much everyone can have encrypted email just
by adjusting settings in their email client. Though
frankly I don't know the details of how secure that
is.
But encryption is only a related issue. There's
the issue of how to protect your data and then there's
the issue of privacy rights and common decency.

By using freebie webmail people must accept that
the likes of Google actually co-own their private
correspondence and will even keep copies after an
account is deleted. There have been court cases
where police requested deleted gmail.

https://www2.cs.duke.edu/courses/spr.../gmailcnet.pdf

In other words, while encryption is useful for both
privacy and security, there's also a social/cultural/
legal issue about privacy involved. Do we, as citizens,
have a reasonable expectation to not be spied on
or subject to electronic surveillance for profit?
There's a clear, concise discussion of the issue
he

http://wakeforestlawreview.com/2012/...d-privacy-law/

In brief, aside from all the pros and cons, and aside
from the technical issues, you help to establish a
no-rights legal precedent simply by using spyware
webmail, since you agree to their terms by doing so.
By doing nothing we support social corruption and we
further the trend toward corporate rights over
private lives.


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