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Show HN: Write a private diary using good old email

diaryemail.com

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Re: Show HN: Write a private diary using good old email

#281

Post by Summershard »

newscracker wrote: post #273
nravic wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are Protonmail's problems?

I'll cite one aspect of its design and implementation as a problem – it doesn't support standard protocols like IMAP unless you choose a paid plan. Even then, you have to use a "bridge application". On mobile, only the official app can access the mailbox. To sum it up, if you're on a free plan on ProtonMail, you cannot export your mails out (unless you do it by "printing" mails one by one). To contrast this, even "fr…

But that's the point of ProtonMail. All your data is invisible to them. If you could use IMAP without a bridge app, which encrypts and decrypts all your mail data locally, guys at Proton could read your mails. Not necessarily because they would want to. That's just how email works.

Re: Show HN: Write a private diary using good old email

#282

Post by wizzwizz4 »

topmonk wrote: post #254
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Encrypt it with a symmetric key, and then encrypt the symmetric key separately with each of your friends' public keys.

But then if just one of your friend's private key is stolen, you lose control of everything you wrote, past or present.

Well, yeah. That's what sharing the things you've written with them is.

Re: Show HN: Write a private diary using good old email

#283

Post by vannevar »

alfonsodev wrote: post #43
kossnocorp wrote: post #2

Yesterday Paul Graham asked for an email diary service ( https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1216714155731890176 ): > Is there an easy way to build, or a startup that offers, something that will email you once a day asking "What's happening?" and then accumulate the replies? I did just that! Let me know what you think.

He also wrote > Unfortunately, though, in this one case I can't promise that if you build it, I'll use it. Unless I know you, I can't trust that you won't read my emails. (I trusted the previous startup that did it because we'd funded them.) How do you solve the "won't read my emails" problem ? I've seen the statement in your website: > Your data stored and transferred securely. No one will ever read or process your…

Since when is Google a "trusted company" when it comes to user-generated content? Their business model is literally to gather as much data as possible from their users in order to manipulate their collective behavior to Google's financial benefit.

Re: Show HN: Write a private diary using good old email

#284

Post by stewfortier »

I built and maintain Writing Amigo, which does exactly this.

It emails you a fun, daily writing prompt that you can reply to directly in your inbox.

It also provides a free dashboard with writing stats and a built-in text editor for refining posts.

https://www.writingamigo.com/

Here are some sample screenshots: https://twitter.com/stewfortier/status/1216969455734931457?s...

Re: Show HN: Write a private diary using good old email

#285

Post by boksiora »

giarc wrote: post #225
alfonsodev wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He also wrote > Unfortunately, though, in this one case I can't promise that if you build it, I'll use it. Unless I know you, I can't trust that you won't read my emails. (I trusted the previous startup that did it because we'd funded them.) How do you solve the "won't read my emails" problem ? I've seen the statement in your website: > Your data stored and transferred securely. No one will ever read or process your…

Remember KISS. He wants a Gmail add-on? Keep it even simpler. Create a filter that applies a "Journal" label to emails from your own address. Then create a filter to have it skip your inbox. Whenever you want to view your journal, just search for archived mail with that label.

doh

Re: Show HN: Write a private diary using good old email

#286

Post by ViViDboarder »

mirimir wrote: post #223
ViViDboarder wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. I believe that it’s more common for “private” to mean “between you and the company”. Eg. Private accounts on other services, or private information associated with your account.

You certainly have a point about "private". As you say, with a service provider. Or with family, friends and associates. But none of that is relevant for "private diary". There, it's privacy between you and your diary.

Plenty of people had “private” LiveJournal accounts back in the day with no expectation that it was a zero-knowledge system. Just that they weren’t sharing it. I may not be a good indication of “most people”, but I just don’t think that most people think of privacy in the way that we (folks who know details of encryption and metadata leaks) do.

Re: Show HN: Write a private diary using good old email

#287

Post by tptacek »

bad_user wrote: post #29
artfulhippo wrote: post #7

>Private and Secure It’s as private as your email...which probably means not private. Like most people, I depend on an advertising company to host my emails. But I wouldn’t share my private diary with them.

You can encrypt those emails with PGP, the best encryption there is. A good email client can also learn to automatically encrypt when you send to a specific email, so you can send to a specific alias (with a plus or subdomain aliasing scheme).

"The best encryption there is"?

Re: Show HN: Write a private diary using good old email

#288

Post by topmonk »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #282
topmonk wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then if just one of your friend's private key is stolen, you lose control of everything you wrote, past or present.

Well, yeah. That's what sharing the things you've written with them is .

Well, there are algorithms that support perfect forward security.... but nah

Re: Show HN: Write a private diary using good old email

#290

Post by tectonic »

I've been doing this for myself for a couple years now with a little service I wrote that just sends me an email each day that I reply to. It's archived in my email history and in a simple, searchable web UI. It's been super useful for figuring out when I did something a few years ago, medical notes, etc.
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