Re: [GNUnet-developers] GNUnet mail ?

[Benjamin Kay]

On Monday 07 June 2004 07:06 pm, you wrote:
> The Namespaces system could be used, but I think the problem is that
> Namespaces are made as only the private key owner can add content into it.
> We should reverse this, but only the mailbox owner should can delete
> messages from it, whereas everybody should can write but not read...

I agree, the namespace system could not be used in that fashion to contain the 
e-mails, but the private/public key structure of the namespaces make them 
ideal for encryption/decryption. Also, the mailbox owner cannot "delete" 
messages; rather, the messages would fall off of the network after a given 
amount of time. In GNUnet, nothing can be deleted per se.

> To get mails, the receiver should search a specific keyword in the
> Namespace, or we must find a way to find every content that is in the
> Namespace... It should be a protocol (if it runs !) to be much clearer.

Something like that. But namespace/updatable keys are Freenet's inefficient 
way of handling mail. Perhaps we can come up with something more efficient 
without sacrificing anonymity?

> I think that chat and mail protocols are quite different since chat's big
> problem is time, whereas mail's big problem is time, but in the other way

Agreed, very different. But probably more similar than mail and afs.

> > What's the need of anonymity on e-mail?
> > Why use GNUnet (and I think this is the first time I'm thinking that
> > GNUnet isn't a sollution for) when people can just use PGP or GPG and
> > encrypt their e-mails?
>
> One can encrypt a message by PGP/GPG but can't hide the sender, the
> addressee and the fact of the communication. Also, the need for anonymity
> does not depend on the number of recipients: it can be important when I
> send a letter to one person, as much as when I share a file with the world.

Agreed. That's like saying, "Why not just encrypt the desired content and post 
it on your website? Why do we need afs protocol?" Anonymity and censorship 
resistance.