It takes two to keep a secret

I got the perennial encrypted email question this week: is Tuta or Proton the best email provider for privacy? My answer is… usually neither.

Let’s say you make all the right moves: encrypted provider, keys in your control, privacy policy you’ve actually read. Gold star! Then you email a client…

In most cases, it’s going to land in the gaping maw of Google or Microsoft where it will get scanned, indexed, backed up, and probably fed to some AI assistant. You’ve encrypted your end. The other one? Not so much (Yes, some encryption is involved in transit, but it’s not the same).

Email privacy isn’t a product you can purchase for just yourself because email is a network, a collaboration. Every message lives at least in two places, and one of them won’t be under your control.

It’s not 100% pointless. Your provider choice can still protect what you control: where your own email is stored, your account details, recovery paths, etc.

Just don’t kid yourself that the conversations are private, unless you exclusively talk to people who also use these services.

Colin