A second option for e-mail is to use a web based e-mail account. This will allow you to use a
web browser to check your e-mail. Since the e-mail for these accounts is normally stored on
the web e-mail server – not on your local computer – it is very convenient to use these
services from multiple computers. It is possible that your ISP will allow you to access your e-mail
through both POP and the web.
However, you must remember that web pages are cached or stored on local computers,
sometimes for significant lengths of time. If you check your e-mail through a web based
system on someone else's computer, there is a good chance that your e-mails will be
accessible to someone else who uses that computer.
Web based e-mail accounts are often free and easy to get. This means that they offer an
opportunity for you to have several identities online. You can, for instance, have one e-mail
address that you use only for friends and another that is only for relatives. This is usually
considered acceptable, as long as you are not intentionally intending to defraud anyone.
Exercises:
1. You can learn a lot about how POP e-mail is retrieved by using the telnet program. When
you use telnet instead of an e-mail client, you have to enter all the commands by hand
(commands that the e-mail client program usually issues automatically). Using a web
search engine, find the instructions and commands necessary to access an e-mail account using the telnet program. What are the drawbacks to using this method to
retrieve e-mail? What are some of the potential advantages?
Find three organizations that offer web based e-mail services. What, if any, promises do
they make about the security of e-mail sent or received using their services? Do they make
any attempts to authenticate their users?
(possibly homework) Determine the SMTP server for the email address you use most
frequently.
