Difference between revisions of "I2P-Bote"

Revision as of 17:55, 10 June 2021

I2P-Bote is an end-to-end encrypted, network-internal, fully decentralized (serverless) e-mail system. It supports different identities and does not expose e-mail headers. Currently, it is still alpha software. It can be accessed via web console, and it has IMAP and SMTP support, so bote-mails can be read and written by regular email clients. It is planned to guarantee additional anonymity by providing a high-latency transport option. All bote-mails are automatically end-to-end encrypted, so that there's no need to set up e-mail encryption (though the option does exist), and bote-mails will be authenticated automatically. As it is decentralized, there is no e-mail server that could link different e-mail identities as communicating with each other (profiling): Even the nodes relaying the mails will not know the sender and apart from sender and receiver, only the end of the high-latency mail tunnel and the storing nodes will know to whom (anonymous identity) the mail is destined. The original sender can have gone offline, long before the mail becomes available on the other side. This adds on the degree of anonymity that can be reached with I2P-Bote. For those who do not want high delays: All these settings are be user-adjustable, so each user decides on how much anonymity he wants.

Quick start guide

To get it

I2P-Bote work as a plugin only, there is no standalone software to download. Only the URL link to the plugin file is required, read the next section.

To install it

The installation process is officially described at http://bote.i2p/install or clearnet version [1], this is the same process as others plugins : Plugins: How to install a plugin (this page is more detailed).

Copy/paste the URL of the plugin that you will find at http://bote.i2p/install/.

Additionally, you can download su3 file of Bote 0.4.7 from zzz http://stats.i2p/i2p/plugins/others/i2pbote-0.4.7.su3 or clearnet: https://i2pbote.xyz/i2pbote.su3 and use Installation from File

Caution, PaTracker has no search function for Info Hash. The distributors often don't reveal themselves (aka uploader hidden), which exposes them to the suspicion of attempted fraud. Only a strict check of the source can prevent damage. Therefore we advise against downloading via magnetic URL without further investigation.

Last resort: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:ea4e7df590fac5e16778fef845e082023a53530d&tr=http://tracker2.postman.i2p/announce.php

Once installed, you will see on your I2P routerconsole (top, left side) below 'I2P Services' the text 'SecureMail'.

Setup I2P

There is nothing to set into I2P's configuration.

Setup I2P-Bote

Creating a account (a identity) is not mandatory. You can use the "anonymous" identity to send messages, but you will not be able to receive messages.

Note: you can let run it without creating a account, to help the network if you own a computer running 24/7.

If Bote can not connect to the network

After installing Bote, it says "Connecting..." since several hours, and shows "1 network peer and 4 relay peers".

I2P-Bote is supposed to be able to bootstrap without any manual steps. It has two sources: the hardcoded list of peers in the plugin, ~~and searching Seedless.~~ Unfortunately none of the four hard-coded peers are online anymore. http://trac.i2p2.i2p/ticket/2425 Before a new version is released, we recommended bootstrapping method for the I2P-Bote plugin is to install the Seedless plugin (Neodatis first, then Seedless), and let I2P-Bote bootstrap off that (once Seedless has connected to its network). Be patient, this will work. (ref: http://forum.i2p/viewtopic.php?t=11937).

Download a list of peers magnet:?xt=urn:btih:bcdb811d635379effcec4dfa6dfa368515783fdd&tr=http://tracker2.postman.i2p/announce.php

Stop the plugin, copy dht_peers.txt to ~/.i2p/i2pbote/ and start the plugin again. If that does not work try searching newer list on trackers or ask around on IRC2P

Misc

Where are the official documentation (user guide) and FAQ ?

These are embedded into the I2P-Bote software (left menu).

It is possible to read them without installing I2P-Bote, by looking at the I2P-Bote source code https://github.com/i2p/i2p.i2p-bote

About Bandwidth

I2P-Bote can use quite a lot of bandwidth (because of the decentralization of the messages). As an example, mine appears to use approximately 1GB per day upload, as measured by I2P itself. The download is slightly lower. This is with continuous uptime, I2P-Bote can and will work fine with less, although for maximum reliabilty higher uptime is preferable.

How to use I2P-Bote with IMAP and SMTP

0. Install I2P and have it autostart, install and autostart I2P-Bote plugin (version >= 0.2.9), create an identity in I2P-Bote, adjust the settings to your needs (in cause of doubt, keep the defaults), enable IMAP in I2P-Bote.

Beware: I2P-Bote supports UTF8 characters also in usernames, but apparently IMAP does not support special characters, such as ö, ß, é!!

1. create a new IMAP account in your mail client. (in my version of Thunderbird I could not enter the port as I liked in the creation dialog, so I had to make up a non-existing outnernet email address before, for which Thunderbird also automatically tried to fetch the settings, so BE CAREFUL)

2. either in the account creation dialog (if you can), or after creation make the following settings :

2a add a new SMTP server: server: 127.0.0.1 port: 7661 username: bote authentication: password plain

2b adjust the IMAP settings: account name: whatever you like your name: the public name of the e-mail identity in question, c.f. http://127.0.0.1:7657/i2pbote/identities.jsp e-mail address: the long public key that you find when on http://127.0.0.1:7657/i2pbote/identities.jsp you click on the identity you have chosen ( NOT: the private keys! )

SMTP: choose your Bote's smt server

2b' under server settings: server: 127.0.0.1 or whatever the IP is, your I2P-router with I2P-Bote is running at port: the one shown on http://127.0.0.1:7657/i2pbote/settings.jsp (by default 7662) username bote authentication method: password, plain (this implies you do not choose TLS or other transport encryption)

3. Check your mail! When prompted for a password, enter your I2P-Bote password, in case you have one, or a random string otherwise. If you get no error messages, you have done everthing right. Congratulations!

Notes

Beware: The data is transfered in the clear, so do not connect to your I2P-Bote via unsecured connections!

Beware: Sending only works with your default Bote identity!

Advanced subjects

Bote-ratcheting - Applies a technique used in OTR messaging to provide similar, and more, benefits to bote

External links

http://i2pforum.i2p 'I2P-Bote'
http://trac.i2p2.i2p - List of open issues

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 <!--T:2-->
 '''I2P-Bote''' is an end-to-end encrypted, network-internal, fully decentralized (serverless) e-mail system. It supports different identities and does not expose e-mail headers. Currently, it is still alpha software. It can be accessed via web console, and it has IMAP and SMTP support, so bote-mails can be read and written by regular email clients. It is planned to guarantee additional anonymity by providing a high-latency transport option. All bote-mails are automatically end-to-end encrypted, so that there's no need to set up e-mail encryption (though the option does exist), and bote-mails will be authenticated automatically. As it is decentralized, there is no e-mail server that could link different e-mail identities as communicating with each other (profiling): Even the nodes relaying the mails will not know the sender and apart from sender and receiver, only the end of the high-latency mail tunnel and the storing nodes will know to whom (anonymous identity) the mail is destined. The original sender can have gone offline, long before the mail becomes available on the other side. This adds on the degree of anonymity that can be reached with I2P-Bote. For those who do not want high delays: All these settings are be user-adjustable, so each user decides on how much anonymity he wants.
-=== Screenshot === <!--T:3-->
-Screenshot of the main window (v0.4.7, 2019):
-<!--T:24-->
-[[File:Bote2019.png|center||I2P-Bote screenshot]]
 == Quick start guide == <!--T:4-->