Web-Based E-mail in the Works

The Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services (HASCS) has begun investigating the possibility of providing web-based e-mail access to students in the near future.

Over the past two years, student computer surveys have been filled with requests for an alternative to the current telnet system, which some students have difficulty accessing from outside Harvard.

But the process of implementing such a system poses some security risks, which Kevin S. Davis ’98, coordinator of residential computing, said may take time to iron out.

“Many sites don’t encrypt Webmail, which means your password and all your e-mail are travelling in clear text, and any hacker can get at them,” Davis wrote in an e-mail to the Winthrop House e-mail list.

HASCS is not attempting to replace current e-mail options, but instead hopes to provide a way for students to more easily access their Harvard e-mail accounts from off-campus locations.

HASCS began a Webmail focus project in late 2000 using a program called Silkymail, but encountered difficulty when trying to adapt the system to incorporate a larger number of Webmail users.

HASCS also considered a program called Cubmail, which is currently used at Columbia University. Ultimately, however, HASCS settled on Oracle, a program which has previously been used at Harvard to put Human Resources information online.

But Davis, who is also a Crimson editor, said Harvard is exercising caution before incorporating such a system in the rest of the University.

“We’re really doing our best to get our ducks in a row...before we launch it,” Davis said. “Webmail is inherently much, much slower than telnet, POP and IMAP options.”

Students who have been stymied in their attempts to use telnet from outside Harvard said the new system would make their lives much easier.

“Why not provide this service?” said Robert W. Wheeler ’05. “I’m getting ready to go home for Christmas break and I have a paper due before I get back. The way things are now, I can’t even check my e-mail to get updates from my professor.”

To Davis, the benefits of a Webmail system are obvious.

“It’s not always easy to find a telnet, but everyone’s got a web browser,” he said. “If you can’t get into e-mail when you can’t see Harvard Yard out of the window, that’s a problem.”