[fauigerzigerk]

If that is so then "public" and "private" are insufficient categories to describe messaging options.

I'm forced to send proof of identity as well as proof of address via email. I'm receiving bank statements and countless other sensitive documents via email. And I have absolutely no other choice.

Whoever gets a hold of my email can impersonate me in almost every context.

So no, I do not consider the contents of my email public. Absolutely not!

I'm not willing to consider a service completely insecure just because it can never be completely secure.

[wyclif]

In fairness, I don't think he meant the contents of your email account should be public, he said you should write and behave as if it could be because who knows what a webmail provider will do with your data. That's a very different thing than saying it should or will become public.

[fauigerzigerk]

The question was whether or not it makes sense to make email services as secure as possible and prefer more secure email providers to less secure ones.

Some say we should give up making email more secure, because it can never be as secure as more modern messaging services.

That doesn't make sense to me, because we don't have a choice other than to use email in ways that require very high levels of security. I cannot behave as if my email could become public any moment.

I would love if the world were to move on to more secure messaging platforms. But it's simply not the world we live in right now.