Mozilla's online authentication tool Persona is now available to Gmail users, allowing Gmail users to sign into the Mozilla browser's Persona browser ID using their email account. Creating a Mozilla Persona account allows users to sign into websites without having to create a login specific to that site at participating sites (about 60-80% of North American websites). Mozilla is able to track which sites a user visits across the web, but Google will not be able to do the same. Mozilla's Persona tool is already available to Yahoo users and adding Gmail support means that Mozilla Persona now supports more …

Silent Circle, an email and texting services that promises to send communications over an encrypted and secure network is shutting down. The company's CTO Jon Callas blogged the news explaining that due to the insecure nature of email protocols and outside government pressures led to the company's closing. This is the second company of this type to shut down operations this week. Yesterday, Lavabit, a company offering a similar encrypted email platform, also closed its doors citing issues with the U.S. government.

After news broke this week that the U.S. government has been reading the emails of German citizens, Germany's top telecoms operator promised users that it would begin funneling email exclusively through its domestic servers. Deutsche Telekom's "E-mail made in Germany" initiative promises a more secure email experience to German citizens. The spying scandal is a sensitive topic in Germany and revelations that Chancellor Angela Merkel may have given the U.S. government access are hurting her campaign for reelection in September.

After news broke this week that the U.S. government has been reading the emails of German citizens, Germany's top telecoms operator promised users that it would begin funneling email exclusively through its domestic servers. Deutsche Telekom's "E-mail made in Germany" initiative promises a more secure email experience to German citizens. The spying scandal is a sensitive topic in Germany and revelations that Chancellor Angela Merkel may have given the U.S. government access are hurting her campaign for reelection in September.

The National Security Agency has the legal authority to access and search the emails of US citizens without having to get a warrant, according to a new report in The Guardian that stems from new leaks by Edward Snowden. The documents revealed a loophole which allows the NSA to search the emails and phone calls of US citizens using their name without having to get permission. "Once Americans' communications are collected, a gap in the law that I call the 'back-door searches loophole' allows the government to potentially go through these communications and conduct warrantless searches for the phone calls …

The NSA is temporarily copying every single email and text message that is sent between persons in the United States and abroad not just the communications of suspected terrorists. According to reports, NSA uses software to make a clone of these communications and then the computer searches the communications within seconds for keywords that give the government any indications of terrorism. Flagged communications are then saved for human analysts to later examine. Emails that aren't flagged are deleted.

Ever since Google began separating marketing emails into a promotions tab within the inbox, email marketers have been worried that their message is not getting through. It turns out that the new tabs are actually helping among engaged consumers, according to a new study from Return Path. The research, which looks at the early effects Gmail's new tabs have had on marketers, found that users who are "routinely engaged" with marketing emails had a 2.11% lift in reading emails that fell into the promotions tab. However, the study also revealed that Gmail users who have a "medium engagement" with email …

Lavabit, the free email service that promised users a secure and private webmail experience, has shut down. The service, which has been in business for almost 10 years, has recently made headlines for being the platform of choice for whistleblower Edward Snowden. The company did not say exactly why it shut down, but in a post on the company's website, Ladar Levison, owner and operator, of Lavabit LLC, hinted that he was caving to government pressure and said that he didn't have the resources to fight. "I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes …

The NFL has partnered with database and digital marketing services firm Epsilon to power its marketing communications with fans which will range from email to social media. Epsilon will help the NFL manage their consumer marketing database and send out cross channel communications for the league and its 32 teams. Working with Epsilon, the NFL will send fan communications across every NFL property, and then track these communications to better segment and target future campaigns.

Germany's BND intelligence service has shared more than 500 million pieces of phone and email metadata with the NSA, according to new reports based on Edward Snowden's leaks. According to the BND, the practice is totally legal. The operation was allegedly called "Germany - Last 30 days." The data was reportedly given to the NSA at two different collection sites within Germany. The news comes as the German federal government is still officially waiting for an answer from Washington aabout where German metadata documented in the NSA files was obtained.