[liberationtech] advice on securing a new computer

[Rich Kulawiec]

On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 05:18:46PM -0800, Brad Beckett wrote:
> 6. Use Gmail, with two factor authentication enabled [...]

Most of this is outside my expertise, but on this point I'll chime in.
Gmail is mediocre, at best -- I'd give it a Gentleman's C, no better.
The spam classification false-negative and false-positive rates are
unacceptably high.  It uses quarantines, a worst practice in mail system
engineering.  (Ask RSA how that's working out for them.)  And given its
prominence and size, it's a really tempting attack target from inside
and out, via legal and illegal methods.

I think you'd be much better off with a much smaller mail provider;
find some small/local ISP in Duluth or Madrid or Perth, and use them.
(But: pick one that uses secure mail submission and retrieval (e.g.,
IMAPS) in order buy yourself a modicum of privacy.)

---rsk