User:Mor.nitesh/sandbox: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:32, 8 March 2015

Revision as of 00:33, 8 March 2015

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{{see also|webmail|email client|secure messaging}}

The architecture of the system also affects the privacy guarantees and potential venues for information leakage. Traditional email protocol was designed for email clients — programs that periodically downloads email from a server and storesstore it on the user's computer. However, in recent years, [[webmail]] usage has increased given the simplicity of usage and no need for the end users to install a program. [[Secure messaging]] is in use where an entity (hospitals, banks, etc.) wishes to control the dissemination of sensitive information. In case of secure messaging, the user is notified of a new message using some mechanism, and the user can log on to a website operated by such entity to read the message.

Both in case of secure messaging and webmail, all email data is stored on the email provider's servers and thus subject to unauthorized access, or access by government agencies. However, in case of email clients, it is possible to configure the client such that the client downloads a copy of the message as it arrives, which is deleted from the server. Although there is no way to guarantee whether a server has deleted the copy of email, it still provides protection against situations where a benign email server operator is served with a court order.