On Friday, a US federal judge in New York ordered that Internet service providers must turn over customer emails and other digital content requested by any government agency through a warrant—even if the data is stored overseas.

Sending an unsecured email is like shouting something across a crowded room… if you expect the information to be kept private that is probably one of the worst methods available. You might as well rent a billboard so everyone can see.

      “Net Neutrality,” the guiding principle that preserves the free                and open Internet.

And as the whole recent PRISM surveillance debacle has brought to light, if you suspected it was a bad idea to use Gmail or Hotmail(now Outlook), you’ve been proven correct!

Simon Black (The Sovereign Man, a B4IN contributor ) has put together an Email Encryption Black Paper that gives you step-by-step instructions, including screen shots, for how to encrypt your email yourself—at no cost and in just a few steps.

I’m just passing it along with excerpts from his letter and the Black Paper… Tom Dennen

This is a very important topic and we are happy to share this with everyone so you too can take your privacy and personal matters back in your own hands.

Judge James Francis has ordered Microsoft to turn over customer’s information associated with an email account that was being held on a server in Ireland – including the customer’s name, contents of all emails sent and received by the account, online session times and durations, and any credit card number or bank account used for payment.
Just as it is in tax matters, the US government has unilaterally extended its powers to access US citizens’ digital data at will anywhere in the world.
This is unprecedented and shocking.
Your email and your digital assets in general are your private property.
An email is even more than a person’s wallet or purse today. It’s a gateway to almost all aspects of our life.
Just think what sort of details and personal information are accessed via our email—all our online accounts, bank and other financial information, business details, private health information, personal family information… etc. The list is only getting longer each day.

We’ve learnt explicitly last year that the US government has a complete disregard for private property and privacy, and is breaking its own laws by monitoring peoples’ communications and actions online.
Now they’re legally allowed to go after their citizens’ most private information—anywhere in the world.
The case for securing your email and other digital assets can’t be made stronger. Luckily there are a few options that exist.
Option 1: Move to a foreign email provider.
This ruling applies to US Internet providers such as Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, and by moving to an email hosting service offshore you can easily bypass it since the US government has limited jurisdiction over foreign companies.
There’s an explosion of these, as many companies are leaving the US and are being set up abroad. Neomailbox is an example that is based in Switzerland.
Option 2: Use a ‘zero-knowledge’ secure email provider.
‘Zero-knowledge’ means that your email is encrypted on the provider’s servers and only you have access to it—they don’t have the decryption keys. So even if the company receives a warrant to hand over your email data to the government, all they would be able to deliver is encrypted gibberish.
Think of it like a cloud storage service such as Mega, as opposed to Dropbox. Gmail, Yahoo, Microsoft etc. are just like Dropbox—they have access to your data, and if push comes to shove, they will hand it over.
Option 3: Use your own encryption.
You can encrypt your email yourself and ensure that your communications and all your data contained within your email account are secure (SEE ENCRYPTON BLACK PAPER LINK ABOVE).

READ ORIGINAL HERE