[ANN] LastMail: World's first passive post-mortem message system [Free+Open!]

[W-M]

LastMail is the world's first passive post-mortem message system. It lets you send a good-bye to your friends and contacts, and pass on your (digital) belongings.

It can be found at https://last-mail.org

Why is this important?

I made LastMail with the following two purposes in mind:

1. To send a final message to your digital contacts.
   In this 21st century age, we have lots of contacts through the internet. Often, our family does not have a clear picture of who these people are.
   So that's why it might be a better idea to send such a message yourself.
   
   Of course, this also means that you can leave a final kind wish for them. (or, if you really really want to, an evil sneer)

2. To have a secure way to pass on your digital belongings.
   This is where Bitcoin comes in.
   Current systems of passing on belongings rely on a human to actually pass on these things.
   This works well with physical objects, as there always is very clear evidence when they disappear.
   
   With Bitcoin wallets, this is not the case. It is extremely easy for someone to copy over some of your coins to another wallet before presenting your next of kin your inheritance.
   
   Thus, why not eliminate this human factor all-together?
   
   
   When using last-mail.org, the only human you need to trust is me, the site owner.
   
   Don't trust me? Not a problem, you can instead grab the source from GitHub, and host a version of the site for yourself:
   https://github.com/Qqwy/LastMail
   
   
How does LastMail check if users are still alive?

LastMail checks if its users are still active by sending them an email regularly.
Included in this email is an image. When users open the mail and the image is loaded, this lets the server know that you still are alive.

Thus, activity checking is passive: all the user needs to do is to read their mail.
(For mail programs that don't like HTML content, there's also a link to use instead of the image, of course. )


When a user does not check their mail for a very long amount of time, (The exact amount is configurable by the user) the system decides that the user, or at least this identity of the user, is not alive anymore.
LastMail then goes ahead and sends out the Last Mails that the user wrote before.


How is this different from what's already there?

Right now, the only system that is somewhat similar to LastMail is something called "Dead Man's Switch".


LastMail has the following features that make it better, in my opinion:

• LastMail is 100% FREE and Open-Source.
• LastMail enables you to use HTML formatting in your mails.
• LastMail lets you send any number of messages to any number of email-addresses. All free.
• LastMail does not require you to click on a link to check your activity. Viewing the image in the e-mail is enough.

So, that's LastMail in a nutshell.

I'm happy to hear about all your feedback, thoughts and ideas.

If you like the system, it would be nice if you send some coins to 1E5sWvnH6G38Zr5LcGJRwU1LQGxXFexZBu



Thank you for your time!

~W-M

[1715693685]

1715693685

[W-M]

The GitHub repository is now set up:

https://github.com/Qqwy/LastMail

Also note that FireFox users might at this time still have trouble with the https certificate of the site.
This seems to be a problem caused by the company that I use for the certificates. I hope that it will be resolved within 24 hours.
In the meantime, use another browser or go to Menu->Options->Advanced->Verification and turn off the checkbox that says 'Use the Online Certificate Status Protocol'


I'm eager to hear any feedback.

Thank you!

~W-M

[foodies123]

is it trustless ? how do peers verify I'm dead ?

[W-M]

is it trustless ? how do peers verify I'm dead ?

It is trustless. When using the main system, you still need to trust me, the site administrator, to a certain extent.
But as the source is open, and you're allowed to upload your own private use version, trusting me is not even neccesary.

Also, all information about the messages you write, the subject, whom you address it to and the name you take is stored in an encrypted way, and is unreadable with just database access. So no worries to be had there either.

How LastMail knows you've died:
The system keeps track of when you're reading your emails, by knowing when you view the embedded image in the activity mails.
When you have been inactive for a prolonged amount of time (the exact time amount is configurable), the system will then flag you as 'deceased', and at that time automatically send out your Last Mails.

Afterwards, these messages are deleted from the server and erased from LastMail's memory forever.

[foodies123]

is it trustless ? how do peers verify I'm dead ?

It is trustless. When using the main system, you still need to trust me, the site administrator, to a certain extent.
But as the source is open, and you're allowed to upload your own private use version, trusting me is not even neccesary.

Also, all information about the messages you write, the subject, whom you address it to and the name you take is stored in an encrypted way, and is unreadable with just database access. So no worries to be had there either.

How LastMail knows you've died:
The system keeps track of when you're reading your emails, by knowing when you view the embedded image in the activity mails.
When you have been inactive for a prolonged amount of time (the exact time amount is configurable), the system will then flag you as 'deceased', and at that time automatically send out your Last Mails.

Afterwards, these messages are deleted from the server and erased from LastMail's memory forever.

morbid but interesting

[W-M]

morbid but interesting

Lol, I guess you're somewhat right. The fleeting of life is not the most lighthearted subject.


On another note: The OCSP is finally updated, so FireFox users should not have any problems while visiting the site anymore.   

[W-M]

Wooh! I've done a few updates.
The site now works even better on Mobile, and will also work without any JS (including mobile).

Also, the security of the site has been increased even further, with thanks to ilesinge on GitHub who pointed some good fixes out to me.



~W-M

[W-M]

I've had quite a bit of feedback from people.

Not so much on Bitcointalk yet, however.



Please, ask me all your questions, give me all your thoughts on this subject.

[micaman]

You will never get bad reviews, because dead people don't give feedback.
Now seriously, if trustless, could be a really interesting idea.

[W-M]

You will never get bad reviews, because dead people don't give feedback.
Now seriously, if trustless, could be a really interesting idea.

The system is as trustless as it can be.

As the system needs to send your messages after you are dead, it's impossible to encrypt it in a way that only you can access it. Thus, there's still one person you need to trust: The administrator of the site.
In the case of the main last-mail.org site, that would be me.

To make this a non-issue for paranoid people, I've opened up the source: Anyone with a bit of knowledge of web servers can host their own version of the code for private use (for themselves or family/friends).

----
Your data is protected in a way that makes it very hard for people to snoop, though. (including me):

• All identifying data (mail addresses, messages, sender alias names) are stored encrypted using MCRYPT_RIJNDAEL_128 with a padded iv. The exact value of this is dependent on your own mail address and the server salt. This makes everything unreadable for anyone looking directly at the database.
• Everything is stored with the use of a salt: Decrypting anything is impossible without having access to the server as well as the database.
• The site can only be accessed through HTTPS

Thank you for your reply!

~W-M