Russian hackers selling login credentials of UK politicians, diplomats – report

Re: What Is The Policy For MP's E-Mail ?

"This managed service ensures that communication which should be confidential between MP and constituents, [...]"

Sent my Labour MP an email through their web site about one of the then NuLabour's attacks on internet privacy. Probably about the time Home Secretary David Blunkett was advocating random searches of anyone's home PC. "No one who has nothing to hide should worry about being investigated".

Received a snail-mail reply in the usual crested HoC envelope. It quoted a pro forma statement on a similar but different issue by an appropriate minister.

The document was actually a photocopy of a letter sent to another person in our constituency. The constituent's name and address had been redacted with black marker pen. However if you tilted the paper at an angle - the reflected light made those details perfectly readable.

Re: What Is The Policy For MP's E-Mail ?

The local council governing Labour Party had a long-running feud with the Tory county council.

The local Labour councillor asked for feedback on problems with local roads - which were the county council's remit.

Sent them a sample of a safety "improvement" that had actually increased risks to the school children. You could not submit the web form without giving them name, address, and email address - so the latter was generated just for them. One result was then on-going spam from the Labour Party as if I was a party supporter.

What was surprising was the acknowledgement I later received from the county council roads department. The Labour Party had not amassed a body of complaints - but had filled in individual web forms as if they were from the individuals. Basically they forged my name, address and email address on the county council web site - with an extract from my original text.

Re: What Is The Policy For MP's E-Mail ?

My previous MP had surname suffixed by initials @parliament.uk.

Dunno what the new one has.

Your presumptions about confidentiality show a lack of knowledge about SMTP. Mail is often transferred between MTAs in the clear. Your MUA may be able to connect to your MTA to send and receive mail securely, and two MTAs may be able to relay mail securely, but this behaviour is not mandatory. Unless all the MTAs in the chain support STARTTLS and sending MTAs are configured to use it where possible, your mail can be eavesdropped somewhere along the way.

Apart from confidentiality, I'd have hoped that parliament required MPs to use @parliament.uk both to reassure people they weren't mailing a spoof address and so that all official communications could be recorded (as happens in the US).

Do you suffer from delusion?

Re: Lockdown

They'll be glad about that.

It means they won't have to communicate with those pesky things called constituents.

Re: Lockdown

The Maybot will shortly be demonstrating her complete understanding of all things interweb. And no doubt calling for encrypted email.

Oh. No she won't. On both counts.