Re: [Hampshire] Unscrupulous ISPs

Rob Malpass wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tony Whitmore"
> <tony@???>
> To: "Hampshire LUG Discussion List" <hampshire@???>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 6:49 PM
> Subject: Re: [Hampshire] Unscrupulous ISPs
>
>
>> Rob Malpass wrote:
>>> One other thought - how safe is your email address if you join a
>>> mailing
>>> list? Most of the ones I join are (one would hope) run by trustworthy
>>> folks (most are GNU or Linux) but before I commit my new ISP email
>>> account to joining a mailing list, I'd like to make sure I'm not making
>>> an obvious mistake.
>>
>> There are (at least) three, four, no seven ways your e-mail address can
>> get out if you use it to sign up to a mailing list.
>>
>> 1) The mailing list has a public archive without obfuscated e-mail
>> addresses.
>> 2) Someone runs an unofficial public archive without obfuscated e-mail
>> addresses.
>> 3) Someone on the list chooses to sell the e-mail addresses of people
>> who post to the list.
>> 4) The mailing list administrators choose to sell the e-mail addresses
>> of people on the list.
>> 5) The mailing list software is compromised, revealing the e-mail
>> addresses of everyone on the list.
>> 6) The server hosting the mailing list software is compromised,
>> revealing the e-mail addresses of everyone on the list.
>> 7) One of the servers where the data from the mailing list is backed up
>> to is compromised, revealing the e-mail addresses of everyone on the
>> list.
>>
>> I'm sure there are more. The main point is, if you want to keep your
>> e-mail address secret, don't use it on a mailing list. In fact, don't
>> use it at all as it will" get out" sooner or later.
>>
>> Tony
>>
> Thanks Tony - I must admit I had a feeling it might be quite easy if I
> joined a mailing list. The real pain is that my new Zen account
> (which is giving me close on 6Mb speeds) is great - but if I want to
> post to any list, I either have to join with the Zen address or switch
> routers back to ntlworld (ntl - as most ISPs do - don't allow email
> unless you're actually part of their network). Either that or run a
> routine daemon I guess ;-]
>
> Cheers
> Rob
>
Why not get yourself a google mail account? You can use that for signing
up to 'risky' mailing lists and keep your private email address private.
Also you can then change ISP's and keep the same address.

googlemail has imap so you can still use a standard email client if you
can't get on with the web interface.

I will send you an invite in case you want to try.

Regards,
Philip Stubbs