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Paperweight V1 - Your inbox knows where your data lives in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
Paperweight V1 - Your inbox knows where your data lives in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
[+] [S] -10 points 1 week ago (1 child)

Like most projects, I use AI for most of my work these days. It's a tool, which helps me plan, research and code new ideas/features. It makes a lot of my work easier. I share the concerns about yolo/vibe-coded slop, but it's who wields the hammer that matters. I’ve been a software engineer for 20+ years and you can check from my Github history that I’ve been doing this way before any AI hype. The idea and execution is 100% me. I’m building something I want, use, and care about myself.

I know I won't change your mind here, and that's fine. Don't use it. But you might want to reconsider calling everything that uses AI garbage. By that standard you won't be able to use any tech at all anymore. Chill out, touch grass and enjoy your day!

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    • 6
    Paperweight V1 - Your inbox knows where your data lives (www.paperweight.email)
     

    I shared Paperweight earlier here as it was being actively developed and still in beta. After almost 7 months, I'm excited to finally release Paperweight V1 as ready 🗿

    Paperweight uses your inbox to map your digital footprint, then helps you take back control and delete your data.

    Your email history contains traces of most of your online life. Accounts you created, companies you bought from, mailing lists you joined, services you forgot about, breaches, and personal information accumulated over the years.

    Paperweight helps to map your footprint, take back control and delete your data. All locally on your computer.

    V1 now includes:

    • discover accounts, companies and services connected to your email
    • find mailing lists and subscriptions
    • show known breaches affecting services you use
    • find personal information across your email history
    • bulk unsubscribe and clean up old email
    • create privacy and data deletion requests
    • manage multiple email accounts
    • connect to AI agents through MCP

    It supports Gmail, Microsoft, Apple, custom IMAP and Proton Mail via Bridge.

    The important part for me from the beginning was privacy. All your data stays on your computer. There is no Paperweight backend or external services processing your inbox.

    It's also fully open source under MIT.

    The free version now includes full-history scanning and discovery, so you can map and inspect your entire footprint. A Pro license makes it actionable. It gives you ease of use, compiled binaries and support and helps support (OSS) development.

    Website: https://paperweight.email/
    Source: https://github.com/wslyvh/paperweight

    Paperweight v0.5: Map your digital footprint, with pii analysis, and GDPR tracking in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
    [–] [S] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    I probably don't. I know copyleft vs permissive can be heated debates and I don't have a very strong opinion. My decision and reasoning is mostly based/aligned with https://shazow.net/posts/permissive-vs-copyleft/

    At the current stage, and as solo dev, I don't believe that either licensing is realistically going to have any meaningful difference. There are plenty of cases where copyleft didn't prevent capture. And permissive projects that thrived above corporate versions.

    But I'm curious to learn and appreciate the feedback. Can you elaborate? What's the main concern. What assurances, or protections do you hope to get from GPL? Is it about using the project, or contributing to the project?

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    • Paperweight v0.5: Map your digital footprint, with pii analysis, and GDPR tracking in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
    Paperweight v0.5: Map your digital footprint, with pii analysis, and GDPR tracking in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
    [+] [S] -6 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    I understand the concern, but MIT has been very intentional to signal the opposite of what you're worried about. Paperweight runs fully local. Everything works without any back-end or external services. No one can turn this into some paid SaaS to lock features. It already passes the walk-away test and there's literally nothing to rug and if the project ever goes into a direction you don't like you don't lose access or need anyone's permission.

    While GPL theoretically gives you the same opportunity, I feel like it adds some overhead and potentially locks out genuine contributors.

    And especially in the age of AI, code is cheap and if someone wants to build a closed Paperweight, the license is not going to stop them.

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    • Paperweight v0.5: Map your digital footprint, with pii analysis, and GDPR tracking in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
    [–] [S] 2 points 1 month ago

    The App does help you find what data is shared where, but it is indeed based on the data that is shared over email. Which might not include everything, no. But at least it'll flag the account instead of being some, old account you forgot about.

    I know a lot of companies tend to push you to their forms. Which can be helpful for identification, but you don't have to follow they process. They're legally obliged to honor requests via email. The app helps you to track them.

    I know Github has its flaws, but using for convenience. Not sure how it impacts the App.

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    • Paperweight v0.5: Map your digital footprint, with pii analysis, and GDPR tracking in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
    51
    Paperweight v0.5: Map your digital footprint, with pii analysis, and GDPR tracking (thelemmy.club)
     

    A few months ago I shared Paperweight here. An open-source desktop app that scans your inbox to map out your digital footprint.

    Every account you create, every service you sign up for, every online purchase is connected to your email address. Most people have 100+ accounts they've forgotten about, creating security risks and privacy exposure.

    Local-first. Your inbox is scanned on your own device, your data never leaves it, and there is no account or cloud component.

    Since last time, a lot has changed:

    • New pii analysis engine to check addresses, phones, IBANs, national IDs, cards, and more
    • Improved multi-language lexicons for better classification
    • Track GDPR data requests you send fromPaperweight
    • Improved sync, receiver, hide-my-email aliases, and message tagging
    • Fully verified builds for Apple, Windows and Gmail OAuth connections
    • Several minor improvements and bug fixes

    Links

    Paperweight scans your inbox to map your digital footprint, then helps you take back control and delete your data. Local-first and open source. in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
    [–] [S] 1 point 4 months ago

    Migrating 20+ year inboxes are definitely a pain. I did it a while ago, and tried to stay on top of it better since. As said below, never fully delete an old-email address. Others might be able to hijack the old account and impersonate you. Use a custom domain so you can easily switch providers if ever needed. A catch-all or aliases work great, but check if it allows to send from it. Especially for verification (e.g. delete an account) you often need to verify or send from the origin email. I stopped unique addresses per website. I'd keep a few just to separate "official" things, from general use/registration, and stuff I don't trust.

    Paperweight sort of gives you an overview of services, but I'd recommend to do this more gradually otherwise you'd probably go crazy. Whenever you sign up, check your email and change to one of the addresses above. After a year or so, you likely have done most important once (that at least require you to login). You could probably just keep the others as is, with your old email for legacy. But only use the new address(es) moving forward.

    Hope that helps!

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    • Paperweight scans your inbox to map your digital footprint, then helps you take back control and delete your data. Local-first and open source. in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
    Paperweight scans your inbox to map your digital footprint, then helps you take back control and delete your data. Local-first and open source. in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
    [–] [S] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    Agree, and I'll consider. I know its not a great reason, but Github is still too convenient as it also runs CI/CD, and other actions/workflows. I don't believe its possible with Codeberg?

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    • Paperweight scans your inbox to map your digital footprint, then helps you take back control and delete your data. Local-first and open source. in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
    [–] [S] 2 points 4 months ago

    That's fair. I'm still experimenting with pricing/licensing models, so appreciate the feedback. To be clear, the license grants you permanent use and at least all updates, including V1 which is documented on Github. Not making any promises what's after yet, because in all honesty. I don't know yet what a V2 or other features would look like. Just trying to be transparent on what you're getting right now + upcoming updates. We'll see what's after, and open to ideas

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    • Paperweight scans your inbox to map your digital footprint, then helps you take back control and delete your data. Local-first and open source. in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
    [–] [S] 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    No plans on a Docker compose for now, but feel free to submit an issue. RE licensing, there's some discussion on it below. FOSS describes software licensing, which is all MIT. There are 2 features "gated" behind a license check, which supports development and gives the convenience of a ready-made build (which have costs involved). But all code is open, and you're welcome to modify/fork out if you prefer to run your own.

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    • 220
    Paperweight scans your inbox to map your digital footprint, then helps you take back control and delete your data. Local-first and open source. (github.com)
     

    I’m excited to introduce Paperweight, a local-first open-source desktop app I’ve been building to help people understand and reduce their digital footprint.

    Your inbox is a paper trail of every company that has ever had your data. Every account you created, every service you tried, every online purchase. It’s all connected to your email. Most people have 100+ accounts they’ve forgotten about, each a potential security, or privacy risk. For me the final push was the Odido data breach in the Netherlands. I hadn’t been a customer for more than 8 years, but all my data was still in their systems.

    What it does:

    • Account inventory — Maps every company that has ever emailed you, with risks classifications and recommendations for action.
    • Bulk unsubscribe — Find and unsubscribe from any marketing and mailing lists (auto RFC 8058 where supported).
    • Breach alerts — Alerts when any company you’ve been in contact with has been breached (via HaveIBeenPwned).
    • GDPR requests — Generates pre-filled GDPR requests in multiple languages.

    Supports Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, Proton (via Bridge) and any other email provider via IMAP.

    Privacy approach:

    Everything runs on your machine. Email content, credentials, and connection details never leave your device. No telemetry, no cloud sync, no analytics. The code is fully open source and auditable on GitHub.

    Most alternatives in this space all require your to share your data through their services. Some of them have actually been caught selling your data. Paperweight is the only tool I’m aware of that does this entirely local and is open-source.

    Website

    Feedback welcome! Thanks

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