Why are email transfers between mail servers often not encrypted? Why aren't users warned about it?

Posted by AmV on Super User See other posts from Super User or by AmV
Published on 2011-03-20T17:04:42Z Indexed on 2011/03/20 19:24 UTC
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Users can often choose if they want to access their email provider (such as Gmail) using a secure channel (e.g. using HTTPS).

However, to the best of my knowledge, when it comes to mail-server-to-mail-server communications, most emails are still transferred in plain text and not encrypted, making it possible to anybody on the network to read their content.

Are there any technologies that give the user some guarantees that his emails are sent securely from end to end ? Why not let the user know when encryption is not supported and let him choose if he wants his email to be still delivered ?

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