IMail

Key takeaways

IMail belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect IMail to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of IMail from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Invisible mail, also referred to as iMail, i-mail or Bote mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients in a secure and untraceable way. It is an open protocol and its java implementation (I2P-Bote) is free and open-source software, licensed under the GPLv3. As with email, one can send and receive iMails. However, normal emails are visible to an ISP and to the administrators of the mail servers providing the service. HTTPS, or secure connections still allow the server admin to view the content of an email and its related IP number. In invisible mails both the mail's content, and the identities (of the sender as well as the receiver) remain unknown to a third party observer or attacker. Furthermore, all iMails are automatically and transparently end-to-end encrypted. At present, iMail cannot be sent to regular email accounts. iMail addresses are called iMail destinations. They are much longer than the average email addresses and do not carry the "@" sign nor a domain. They already include the encryption key, so using an iMail destination is not harder than using standard email with gpg encryption. The destination is two in one: the "address" as well as the public key. In contrast to gpg- or pgp-encrypted emails, I2P-Bote also encrypts the mail headers. I2P-Bote also works as an anonymous or pseudonymous remailer. iMails are sent via the I2P network, a secure and pseudonymous p2p overlay network on the internet and sender and receiver need not be online at the same time (store-and-forward model). The entire system is serverless and fully distributed. iMail peers accept, forward, store and deliver messages. Neither the users nor their computers are required to be online simultaneously; they need connect only briefly for as long as it takes to send or receive messages. An iMail message consists of three components, the message envelope, the message header, and the message body. The message header contains control information, including, minimally one or more recipient addresses. Usually descriptive information is also added, such as a subject header field and a message submission date/time stamp. iMails can carry international typesets and have small multi-media content attachments, a process standardized in RFC 2045 through 2049. Collectively, these RFCs have come to be called Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME).

Features secure messages: All iMail messages are automatically end-to-end encrypted from the sender to the receiver. message authentication: All iMail messages that are not sent without any information on the originator are automatically signed and the message's integrity and authenticity is checked by the receiver. anonymous messages: iMails can also be sent without any information about the originator.

Attachment size limitations

iMail messages may have one or more attachments. Attachments serve the purpose of delivering binary or text files of unspecified size. In principle there is no technical intrinsic restriction in the I2P-Bote protocol limiting the size or number of attachments. In practice, however, the slow speeds, overheads and data volume due to redundancy limit the viable size of files or the size of an entire message.

Email spoofing

Email spoofing occurs when the header information of an email is altered to make the message appear to come from a known or trusted source. In the case of iMails, this is countered by cryptographically signing each iMail with its originator's key.

Tracking of sent mails The I2P-Bote mail service provides no mechanisms for tracking a transmitted message, but a means to verify that it has been delivered, which however does not necessarily mean it has been read.

Drawbacks iMails can only be received or sent via the web interface, there is no implementation of POP3 or SMTP for iMail yet. Furthermore, there are no bridges that allow for sending from I2P-Bote to a standard internet email account or vice versa.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with IMail

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what IMail claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to IMail before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about IMail ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of IMail

In research: IMail appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses IMail in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: IMail is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American inventions, Electronic documents, Email, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for IMail outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study IMail in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what IMail means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain IMail out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is IMail in simple terms?

Invisible mail, also referred to as iMail, i-mail or Bote mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients in a secure and untraceable way. It is an open protocol and its java implementation (I2P-Bote) is free and open-source software, licensed under the GPL…

Why does IMail matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study IMail?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on IMail.