In my self-appointed role of benevolent dictator (who has
actual power over the list, heh heh!), I would like to mildly suggest that the
current discussion of safe email practice, while initially useful, is
off topic going forward. My reasons are:
1. It's a huge topic, and while everyone here should be interested, if
we gave the topic of email safety the thoroughness it deserved, we'd
be flooded with that subject forever, and the purpose of the list would be
thwarted.
2. Even though most of the suggestions in this thread have been good,
let's face it, while some of us know more than others, nobody here is an expert
on computer security. Even though none of us would attempt brain surgery
(except those of us who are brain surgeons), it seems like most of us
become security experts at the drop of of hat, and pass on all kinds of
security information that might or might not be accurate.
The one exception to this "mild suggestion" is that
occasionally when dangerous messages actually appear on the list itself, some
brief instructions or suggestions might need to be posted to mitigate risk. In
such cases brevity is appreciated.
What I suggest is this. I will create a topic at wiki.wedgeblade.net on email safety.
Anybody with an account (who can overcome the existential dread of posting on a
wiki) can add material to their heart's content. I will start it with some of
the messages that were posted here, and let you know when I do. A wiki is
better than email for this purpose because it can be edited in case any errors
creep in. (I will not ask anyone's permission to repost their messages on email
security, but will happily take them down if asked.)
I cannot fail to add the following (highly off topic) comment (since
hypocrisy is the style of the day in our country), that hotmail was earlier
maligned by one of my esteemed colleagues. This prejudice had a basis in fact
once but is wrong now. Microsoft has totally redone it's email and hotmail
(a.k.a outlook.com) now rivals Google'd
gmail(which I use and like - tswegner.net is
hosted at Google). Hotmail is a very reasonable full-featured email host
now.
Angry (or not) rejoinders to this haughty pontification welcome
to me personally, off the list of course!