awebsite/content/project/2023-12-06-postmaster/index.md

+++
title = "Postmaster"
description = "Managing petau.net: A family domain with federated email"
date = 2023-12-06
authors = ["Aron Petau"]

[taxonomies]
tags = [
  "activitypub",
  "dev-ops",
  "email",
  "federation",
  "open protocols",
  "peer-to-peer",
  "petau.net",
  "server",
  "web"
]

[extra]
show_copyright = true
show_shares = true
+++

## Postmaster

Hello from [aron@petau.net](mailto:aron@petau.net)!

> [!NOTE]
> **Update 2025:** The service has been running smoothly for over two years
> now, managing 30+ email accounts for family and friends. Still loving the
> Migadu choice!

## Background

Email is a wondrous thing, and I've spent recent weeks digging deeper into
how it actually works. Some consider it the last bastion of the decentralized
dream the internet once had—a dream now resurfacing with federation and
peer-to-peer networks as popular buzzwords.

We often forget that email is *already* a federated system, and likely the
most important one we have. It's the only way to communicate with people who
don't use the same service as you. It has open standards and isn't controlled
by a single entity.

Going without email is unimaginable in today's world, yet most providers are
the familiar few from Silicon Valley. And really, who wants their entire
decentralized, federated, peer-to-peer network controlled by a tech giant?
Emails used to be more than that, and they can still be.

Arguably, the world of messaging has grown complex since email's inception—
there are more anti-spam AI tools than I care to count. But the core remains
the same: a federated system. Yet capitalism has claimed many victories here
too. Today, emails sent from providers outside the big five are often flagged
as spam. This problem isn't easily solved, but it's worth solving.

Another issue: security. It's somehow collectively agreed that emails are
valid for business communications, while WhatsApp and Signal are not. Yet
messaging services with end-to-end encryption are likely far more secure
than traditional email.

## The Story

So it came to pass that I, as the only family member interested in operating
it, "inherited" the family domain **petau.net**. All our emails run through
this service, previously managed by a web developer who'd lost interest.

With secure mail providers like ProtonMail or Tutanota on the market, I
embarked on a research journey to determine how I'd manage our domain. I
quickly noticed that "secure" email virtually always comes with a price tag
or lacks interoperability with clients like Thunderbird or Outlook.

I settled on [Migadu](https://www.migadu.com/), a Swiss provider offering a
good balance between security and usability. They also have a student tier—
a significant plus.

### Why Not Self-Host?

While self-hosting seems ideal from a privacy perspective, it's risky for a
service that's often the *only* way to recover passwords or online identity.
If your server goes down during a critical password reset... well, good luck.

Migadu it was. After two years of essentially "set it and forget it," I'm
proud to have granular control over our emails while consciously reflecting
on the server location of this skeleton service that enables virtually our
entire online existence.

## Beyond Email

I certainly crave more open protocols in my life. You can also find me on
[Mastodon](https://mastodon.online/@reprintedAron), a microblogging network
built on the ActivityPub protocol—another step toward a more decentralized
internet.