[Cryptography] Email and IM are ideal candidates for mix networks

[ianG]

On 26/08/13 08:47 AM, Richard Clayton wrote:

>> Even without the recent uproar over email privacy, at some point, someone was
>> going to come up with a product along the following lines:  Buy a cheap,
>> preconfigured box with an absurd amount of space (relative to the "huge" amounts
>> of space, like 10GB, the current services give you); then sign up for a service
>> that provides your MX record and on-line, encrypted backup space for a small
>> monthly fee.  (Presumably free services to do the same would also appear,
>> perhaps from some of the dynamic DNS providers.)
>
> Just what the world needs, more free email sending provision!  sigh


Right.  One of the problems with email (as pointed out in OP's original 
post) is that it is free to send *and* it can be sent to everyone.  The 
combination of these two assumptions/requirements is essential for spam.

Chat systems have pretty much killed spam by making it non-possible to 
send to everyone.  You need an introduction/invite/process/barrier, first.

This has worked pretty well.  Maybe the writing is on the wall?

Maybe we just need to let email die?

We can move email over to the 'IM technology' layer.  We can retain the 
email metaphor by simply adding it to chat clients, and by adding IM 
technology to existing email clients.  Both clients can allow us to 
write emails and send them, over their known IM channels to known contacts.

Why do we need the 1980s assumption of being able to send freely to 
everyone, anyway?



iang