We all know email. It has been around for decades now. It's a mature system based on well-known protocols like SMTP, IMAP, POP3. Everybody uses it.
However, there are some that argue that this is a negative thing, and it is clear as to why. Email has been at the center of a lot of criticism and complaints, particularly about its security.
It's definitely messy when it comes to encryption. By default, no email is end-to-end encrypted. This means that communications can be intercepted by the service provider, or possibly by anyone in between if STARTTLS isn't enabled either
The only real way to achieve true end-to-end email encryption is through methods such as GPG. These methods can be more than a little unintuitive. Most mail clients have a third-party extension that offers this feature, with mixed results. On a personal note, I had a very bad experience with Enigmail, where it kept trying to generate its own keypairs for accounts and using them instead of only using the ones I told it to. Mutt's GPG is better in this regard, but I still have to figure out how to get that shit to work with multiple accounts. Some people find that these frustrations are enough for them to abandon the idea entirely, and just accept insecure email communications. That's certainly not a good sign. To a certain extent, email can seem like a dinosaur protocol held together with duct tape and glue.
This brings us to the question: Should society abandon email as we know it in favor of a communication system that prioritizes end-to-end encryption?
I've certainly seen some suggest this, particularly the EFF, who during the EFail panic prompted users to install Signal and use that instead. Furthermore, other encrypted chat choices are rising up, such as XMPP+OMEMO and Riot/Matrix.
This all sounds well and good. E2EE by default is always a good thing. I do have a few criticisms and concerns though.
For one, the shilling of signal in particular is a bit troublesome. Sure it's encrypted and "open", but it is still a very centralized system. The app only connects to one server, signal's, and that server handles everything. Outside of the code being open, how is this any more trustworthy than Whatsapp?
Another thing is that these protocols don't seem to fill in the email usecase. Emails are usually, well, mail. They're letters, and generally are long and carefully-composed. These chat apps and systems, while very secure, seem to be emulating instant messaging instead. They don't visually and UX-wise fill the same usecase as email.
So what do you think? Should we get rid of email? If so, what do you think should replace it? If not, how do you think email should evolve to deal with the challenges it faces in the modern technological landscape?