All this new excitement with Lemmy and federation has got me thinking that maybe I should learn to run my own instance. What always comes up though is how email is the orginal federated technology.
I am looking at proxmox and see that is has a built in email server, so now I am wondering if it is time to role my own.
I stopped using gmail a long time ago, and right now I use ProtonMail, but I am super frustrated with the dumb limitation of only having a single account for the app. I get why they do it, and I am willing to pay, but it is pricey and I don’t know if that is my best option. I guess it is worth it since ProtonVPN is included. It looks like they are expanding their suite.
Is it worth it? Can I make it secure? Is it stupid to run it off a local computer on my home network?
I did but I stopped. My server had everything set up (DKIM, DMARC, SPF, Spam filtering) but I gave up after some providers wanted me to jump through hoops to get my mail delivered. Also I never had enough outgoing mail to build some reputation.
That sucks. I don’t even know what to think anymore. It is crazy that anyone with our email address essentially has access to when they use giant corporate services like google of microsoft, but every independent server is a bad actor until proven reputable.
I can’t be asking everyone I want to email to put me on a whitelist. They’ll just tell me to lose their address.
If you think about it from a security perspective, it makes sense. If a random person you don’t know sends you an email, the chances are non-zero that it contains something malicious. The provider has an obligation to filter emails that could be dangerous. They know that if a large email service sends an email, they have that same obligation and are therefore doing some filtering on their side to prevent malicious content. Trust is pretty important.
This is true. Email is so cheap it is practically free, which is why spam and scams became so successful.