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Comment by cinquemb | Hacker News Reader

Anyone else wondering if DDG will come out with their version of email? Maybe something that uses end to end encryption (maybe working together with Mozilla Foundation)?

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I would prefer if someone else did it. Not because I do not trust DDG, but because I don't like the idea of one company providing everything (or too much). Why step into the footsteps of the dinosaurs?

Fair enough.

>Why step into the footsteps of the dinosaurs?

I'd think adding E2EE to email would be like what pagerank did to the search engine. Why build from the ground up when you can build on the shoulders of the giants?

If only someone solved the problem of bringing PGP to the masses. Maybe the need has to reach a critical mass.

I agree, and that's why I was thinking that a company that is still growing and is known for their privacy practices could be good (beach-head?) at doing this (at least being able to advertise it on their own services to get some traction and feedback).

It's not like google or anyone else is going to do it. And looking at DDG traffic, it seems like it is a growing need. Then again, how to you monetize encrypted emails? contextual encyrpted ads? ;)

This is where they would kill it. Search would be supplementary, but if they pivoted and focused on email (eventually rebranding it), then that's a home run in my book. I'd like to see this, and would be interested in beta testing if/when it happens.

I'd prefer they became more competitive on search first: I try DDG a few times a year and it's a pretty big self-handicap when everything takes minutes rather than seconds to find.

Startpage/Ixquick is coming out with an e-mail service called StartMail: https://startmail.com.

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