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Google's Backdoor Access System into Gmail Accounts

schneier.com

21–30 of 96 posts

Re: Google's Backdoor Access System into Gmail Accounts

#21
"In the aftermath of Google's announcement, some members of Congress are reviving a bill banning U.S. tech companies from working with governments that digitally spy on their citizens. Presumably, those legislators don't understand that their own government is on the list."

Gave me a good laugh this morning...

Re: Google's Backdoor Access System into Gmail Accounts

#22
post #9

Could anyone recommend a hosted email service that does not allow spying on users? Alternatively I wonder what Bruce Schneier recommends? Do you have to host your own email server?

Under U.S. laws, providers are often required to give information to the government if they have a warrant. If you want (more) security, host it yourself.

True, however some providers make attempts to thwart this by making it impossible for even themselves to access mail by way of encryption. I haven't looked at it in a long while, but lavabit.com was one such company, and it's a pretty good raw POP/IMAP service (at last check the web interface and spam measures were somewhat lacking).

Re: Google's Backdoor Access System into Gmail Accounts

#23

Unless you host your own email, I assume that even without this specific backdoor built in google would have little trouble getting at the email they host. This is not necessarily bothering to me, or unexpected for hosted services.

The backdoor would not be for Google, but for US intelligence.

I'm not sure your conclusion is exactly right.

If Google can access my data anyway(even though its a pain in the ass), they can still comply with US subpoena's. I would imagine its easier to just automate the process(with a backdoor of sorts) then have to mess around doing this all the time.

I don't see any details on the actual backdoor in the article, so I hesitate to jump to conclusions.

Re: Google's Backdoor Access System into Gmail Accounts

#24
post #9

Could anyone recommend a hosted email service that does not allow spying on users? Alternatively I wonder what Bruce Schneier recommends? Do you have to host your own email server?

Under U.S. laws, providers are often required to give information to the government if they have a warrant. If you want (more) security, host it yourself.

[deleted]

Re: Google's Backdoor Access System into Gmail Accounts

#26

Not that I think this would truly help (they probably replicate all inbound/outbound mail to some vast pool for statistical analysis), but is there an automated way to delete all mail from one's Gmail account? I use fetchmail to remove mail from my inbox and manage it on my workstation, but must periodically log on via the web interface and go to my "All Mail" folder and do a manual select and delete.

Well, if you use POP3 - it can definitely be automatic. Client-side configuration on how long to retain messages seen on the server.

Re: Google's Backdoor Access System into Gmail Accounts

#27
post #14

Could anyone recommend a hosted email service that does not allow spying on users? Alternatively I wonder what Bruce Schneier recommends? Do you have to host your own email server?

You could pgp encrypt anything that you really don't to be read in transit. Short of that, you might as well assume that your emails are being read and stored by third parties. Even if you personally use the most secure email server in the world, it doesn't matter because everyone that you send email to or from is likely using hosted services like gmail, verizon, hotmail, etc.

One big point here is that PGP only works when both sender and receiver and doing it. Try sending Bank of America a PGP encrypted email about your account. See what happens.

Edit: Re-reading my response... I don't mean this in a condescending way and I agree that PGP is a good way to handle email privacy. I only meant to point out that the majority of people don't use it.

Re: Google's Backdoor Access System into Gmail Accounts

#28

Not that I think this would truly help (they probably replicate all inbound/outbound mail to some vast pool for statistical analysis), but is there an automated way to delete all mail from one's Gmail account? I use fetchmail to remove mail from my inbox and manage it on my workstation, but must periodically log on via the web interface and go to my "All Mail" folder and do a manual select and delete.

There may be a difference between you deleting an email from your inbox and google deleting the actual message.

Re: Google's Backdoor Access System into Gmail Accounts

#30
post #27
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could pgp encrypt anything that you really don't to be read in transit. Short of that, you might as well assume that your emails are being read and stored by third parties. Even if you personally use the most secure email server in the world, it doesn't matter because everyone that you send email to or from is likely using hosted services like gmail, verizon, hotmail, etc.

One big point here is that PGP only works when both sender and receiver and doing it. Try sending Bank of America a PGP encrypted email about your account. See what happens. Edit: Re-reading my response... I don't mean this in a condescending way and I agree that PGP is a good way to handle email privacy. I only meant to point out that the majority of people don't use it.

Depends. All of my incoming email is encrypted with my public key as soon as it hits my mail server:

https://grepular.com/Automatically_Encrypting_all_Incoming_E...

So if my mail server or any of my imap clients are compromised, my mail isn't.

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