Why It Will Be Difficult to Create Secure E-mail
Two major secure e-mail services shut down earlier this month, with the people who run them claiming that e-mail inherently lacks privacy, and to keep operating would give their clients a false sense of security.
On Friday afternoon one of the companies, Silent Circle, posted further explanation of its argument. Basically it comes down to this: While it may be possible to encrypt the contents of e-mail to prevent someone else from reading it, there is no way for an e-mail provider to secure the information about who is communicating with whom. Over the past few months it has become clear that this information may be as desirable as the content of the messages themselves.
