[arch-general] Suggestions for email for a paranoid Archer

[Garrik]

Le Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:23:32 +0200,
Menachem Moystoviz <moystovi at g.jct.ac.il> a écrit :

> Recently, my paranoia levels have been ratcheted up by reading about
> companies' treatment of their users, along with an increasing
> awareness of my powerlessness with respect to most content providers.
> I therefore curbed most online activity and have attempted to host
> those services I used on my own server, in most cases living without
> when I didn't succeed.
> 
> Two months ago, I attempted to install postfix and dovecot on my Arch
> box in order to be able to host my own mail. Naively I thought that
> all I needed was the right software and a dynamic DNS address. In
> other words, I thought it would be as simple as setting up a web
> server.
> 
> Naturally, I found out that most anti-spam software is leery of mail
> from dynamic DNS hosts who do not have rDNS and PTR records set up,
> that they preferred DKIM mail, etc.
> 
> Seeing as these involve even more effort, I thought to ask the
> enlightened members of the Arch community which solution they would
> suggest me to use, because I trust you to have made intelligent
> decisions in this matter and believe you understand this outlook.
> Also, I've seen many users with email addresses issued by their own
> domain, which leads me to believe some of you may have gone through
> this before.
> 
> The alternatives I'm aware of are:
> 1) Do what most people do, and just sign up for webmail, paranoia
> demanding me to download all email every day. Possibly alias the
> domain by routing everything through postfix first.
> 2) Host my own server, paranoia demanding multiple redundant backups.
> 3) No email - Knuth style
> 
> Pros:
> 1) Very reliable, better support, and non-crazy
> 2) Gain vast amounts of power over my email
> 3) Less distraction, no effort at all
> 
> Cons:
> 1) Less control, more black box. Is aliasing even possible? Too many
> providers - which to choose?
> 2) Hard to maintain, can crash at any moment, will drive me to early
> grave 3) Harder to keep in touch with people this way, harder to
> check what's going on
> 
> Which do you suggest? Do you have an alternative?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Gesh

I chose the 2d alternative, but I have a fixed IPv4 adress since I host
my contents on a dedicated server, so I didn't met theses
dynamic DNS problems.

For the backup part, a simple script using rsync in crond.whatever will
take good care of it.

Sometimes, your IP can be registered as "spam adress" on some DNSBL,
but most of the time you can ask to be removed from this list by
proving you own that IP.

If you tend to be paranoïd, this solution has some drawbacks :

- Security will sometimes make you sweat (Unless your are a security
  pro)
- What guarantees you that your provider doesn't peek in your hard
  drive?

To answer to the second problem, when I have some really critical files
I save them on an encrypted partition that is closed most of the time.


Hope this helps
-- 
Garrik