EMFS: Repurposing SMTP and IMAP for Data Storage and Synchronization

TL;DR

This paper proposes using standard email protocols SMTP and IMAP as a cost-effective, secure alternative to traditional cloud storage services for data storage, synchronization, and sharing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to repurpose existing email protocols for data storage and synchronization, leveraging free email services to reduce costs and improve security.

Findings

Demonstrates feasibility of using SMTP and IMAP for data storage

Shows potential cost savings over traditional cloud storage

Highlights security and privacy benefits of email-based storage

Abstract

Cloud storage has become a massive and lucrative business, with companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Dropbox providing hundreds of millions of clients with synchronized and redundant storage. These services often command price-to-storage ratios significantly higher than the market rate for physical storage, as well as increase the surface area for data leakage. In place of this consumer-unfriendly status quo, I propose using widely available, well standardized email protocols like SMTP and IMAP in conjunction with free email service providers to store, synchronize, and share files across discrete systems.