How does it differ
BitMaelum tends to fix a few problems with current email systems. Many of the problems originate from the fact that current mail alternatives are created on top of email, or are backward compatible and thus the proposed solutions are often bandages instead of real solutions to fix things.
- All mail is transported encrypted and stored encrypted at rest on each mail server (or proxy) it passes through. Only the recipient can decrypt the message. Messages stored offline on mail servers are encrypted and cannot be decrypted by anyone but the recipient. Perfect forward secrecy is not supported.
- BitMaelum messages cannot be spoofed or tampered with without detection.
- Mail can be received before sending has been completed. This means that when sending large file to a recipient, the recipient is able to read the message, before the sender has finished the upload of the message.
- BitMaelum cannot be used (efficiently) to send spam to a large number of addresses, yet it's possible to set up large mailing lists.
- Users are in control of their own bitmaelum address. It cannot be taken away by others (unlike regular email address like Gmail or Hotmail). BitMaelum's organizational addresses do have more restrictions on ownership. Mail will never be readable by others though.
- You can move to another mail server without losing your address. It will always stay with you, no matter which email server you use.
This chapter needs to be filled in
Protonmail is an end-to-end encrypted mail service like BitMaelum. Mails stored on their servers are not visible for third parties (including protonmail itself). Protonmail uses its own servers to store mail. They are not directly compatible with regular email, but supply a (paid) IMAP/SMTP bridge.
hey.com allows you to easily manage and filter messages on your hey.com address. It still uses the same underlying email infrastructure since it is just that. Emails are not sent or stored with e2e encryption. Hey owns your hey.com email address and can remove it from you at any time, and owns the private keys that are used to encrypt the mail on their servers.
Signal is an end-to-end encrypted messaging service that allows you to safely communicate with others. It is not compatible with regular email nor intended to be an alternative.
