Mailbox provider
An e -mail provider (including e -mail provider or email service provider ) is an Internet company that has a mail server and its clients email accounts (also: E -mail mailboxes) on this mail server offers. Customers can be other companies or individuals.
Variants
E -mail providers can be divided according to the type of provider. E -mail accounts are offered by different service providers can be free or paid. These include, in the strict sense, organizations that provide their employees or members of an e -mail account available - so, for example, companies, universities, associations, clubs.
Most Internet access providers and web hosts offer in addition to their core offering the customers an e -mail account ( or more ) on. With free e-mail providers or Internet access providers, there is no claim to the use of the created e- mail address. A free e-mail provider may adjust its service as the development of epost.de and lycos.de showed: these services were discontinued in 2005 and 2009 respectively. In an Internet access provider, the configured e -mail address is void if circumstances at the end of the contract or may be terminated.
Furthermore, there are a number of independent companies which establish and run an e -mail account for interested users - often free of charge (usually in return for advertisements pop ), see Free Mail. The provision of e- mail accounts can be main business purpose of the company. On their Internet portals some e -mail providers advertising and tabloid news dazzle in addition to an e -mail management to bind their customers. Sometimes the e -mail content for targeted online marketing are used.
So-called premium e -mail services are characterized primarily by an ad-free use of the e- mail address. Most free email providers offer this in the form of packets to, for example, more space, enhanced virus protection or even the ad-free usage by the paying customer.
A permanent e- mail address can be secured by setting up your own domain a user. Such a domain can be registered via any web hosting provider. The provider routes the appropriate fees to the registration authority for Internet Domains ( NIC) on. The provider can change independently of the domain if necessary. Another advantage from a user perspective would be the use of a personal name in the e- mail address such as [email protected] or [email protected].
Tasks and offer
In addition to e- mail inboxes email providers offer their customers usually also protection against spam and computer viruses. This move affected e-mails in the E -mail user's mailbox. Usually can e -mail provider for the same reason the massive scale e- mail sent by their servers not to.
Legal obligations
Privacy Policy
Monitoring & Data Storage
E -mail provider in Germany (from a number of 10,000 contract customers ) required to hold technique for e- mail monitoring, this governs since 2005, the Telecommunications Interception Regulation ( TKÜV ) pursuant to § 88 TKG.
The prosecutor can make the entire e -mail communication itemizing by the provider after obtaining a court order. For e- mail providers in the United States this is not necessary: the U.S. NSA ( National Security Agency ), it is allowed by the Patriot Act to evaluate e- mails and phone calls of foreign nationals without a court order and monitor.
In accordance with § 111 and § 112 TKG, a telecommunications provider in Germany not only the duty to save the personal data (master data ) to telephone numbers, e- mail addresses or other connection identifiers. These data, he shall also submit without a court order in the so-called " automatic information process " available without connection owner or provider must be informed law enforcement agencies. The Federal Network Agency shall examine in this process " the permissibility of the transmission only, provided that there is a special occasion ".