German EMail Providers Are Pushing Encryption

Recently I reported that my German email providers have activated perfect forward secrecy to their encryption when fetching email via POP and SMTP. Very commendable! Now they are going one step further and are warning customers by email when they use one of these protocols without activating encryption (which is the default in most email programs). In addition they give helpful advice on how to activate encryption in email programs and announce that they will no longer support unencrypted email exchange soon. This of course doesn't prevent spying in general as emails are still stored unencrypted on their servers so those with legal and less legal means can still obtain information for targeted customers. But what this measure prevents is mass surveillance of everyone and that's worth something as well!