[Users] Privacy issue (was Webmail support in Claws Mail )

[alb348 at gmail.com]

On 2012-01-30 15:54, Holger Berndt wrote:
> I don't think it's correct to sell that as privacy feature anyways. It 
> may be that the effect you describe is currently observable, but it's 
> mostly a coincidental side effect that might go away any minute. Holger 

Holger, I think that you will have to agree that, if something does 
enhance privacy, then by definition it *is* a privacy feature, 
regardless of whether the element posing the privacy threat (in our 
case: the IP address given out) is coincidental or not. As things stand 
now, there is not only a clear and present danger, but a *certainty* 
that each and every email we send out via SMTP contains our geographical 
location.
What I will grant you is that the breach of privacy was in no way caused 
by Claws Mail (which I never implied), being something inherent in the 
SMTP protocol.
If CM (through a plugin) were to provide the easy links that I 
suggested, this would facilitate the webmail-based workaround to the 
privacy problem, and I don't see why this should not be counted as a 
pro-privacy service rendered by CM. And one that would be appreciated by 
many security-conscious people, I am sure.
In the end, it boils down to: if we do implement the proposed feature in 
CM, the effect of this pro-privacy improvement may or may not last 
(because the protocols and the standards may change at any time). If, on 
the other hand, we simply let things stand as they are, without doing 
anything, there is the certainty that the origin of each and every email 
sent through CM can be geographically pinpointed by the recipient 
(again, through no fault on CM's part).

I conclude by outlining a very realistic scenario in which the problem 
posed by this privacy threat is highlighted. It is just an example, but 
a very real one.
If your employer wants to check on you, and has enough financial and 
technological resources to do so, he can use the services of IT experts 
who will be able to track you down even when you are on holiday. All 
they have to do is to prompt you to send an email, and this can be 
easily done by sending you an urgent work-related request on some 
matter, requiring you to reply via email; or impersonating someone on a 
mailing list (even if unrelated to your job) that you subscribe to; any 
trick will do, to get you to send an email.
Now, whether it is you employer or any other people or organizations 
with adequate means, they can easily do link analysis of your emails, 
and possibly match your data with the data from other people's emails.
Keep in mind that what I am talking about is not super tech CIA stuff 
from a spy novel, because all this can be accomplished by anyone who 
receives an email from you, simply by analyzing its headers. It's quite 
trivial too.
As a practical example, say that you belong to a political party or to a 
group, but you don't want your employer to know about it. During the 
weekend, you attend a meeting of the members of that organization, in 
another city. If you send out even a single email from that location, 
your secret affiliation is as good as compromised, because your unusual 
IP address may raise a red flag in the security system of your employer, 
which unbeknown to you routinely analyzes the headers of all your 
emails, looking for anomalies; once their curiosity has been triggered, 
their the next step will be to find out why you were there; simply on 
holiday or something more? Don't fool yourself. Over time, your presence 
will easily be linked to the events that you are attending, especially 
when other known people coincidentally happen to be in the same place at 
the same time. A pattern will gradually emerge, and aquire a certain 
meaning. This year the conference was in San Francisco, last year it was 
in Chicago, and two years ago it was in Toronto. And you were exactly at 
those locations over those weekends. A mere coincidence?
Naturally, all this may well have serious repercussions on your career 
and on your life.

So, please, do not discount the implications of a seemingly innocuous 
privacy breach such as the disclosure of your IP address.