Method for securely communicating email content between a sender and a recipient

Abstract

One variation of a method for end-to-end encryption of electronic mail includes: receiving an email encrypted according to a first encryption protocol and designating a recipient within an external domain; verifying encryption protocol supported by the recipient's mail client; in response to a recipient exclusion database identifying the recipient, encrypting the email to a less-robust encryption protocol supported by the recipient mail client and transmitting the email to the recipient; in response to the recipient exclusion database excluding the recipient and the recipient mail client supporting the first encryption protocol, transmitting the email encrypted according to the first encryption protocol to the recipient; and, in response to the recipient exclusion database excluding the recipient and the recipient mail client not supporting the first encryption protocol, generating a notification email including a hyperlink to a secure webpage containing content of the email and transmitting the notification email to the recipient.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 intercepting a first email designating a first recipient address;   in response to detecting a first audio file linked to the first email:
 accessing a recipient inclusion list; and 
 in response to the recipient inclusion list including the first recipient address:
 extracting the first audio file from the first email; 
 generating a first transcription of playback of the first audio file; 
 encrypting the first transcription to generate a first encrypted transcription of playback of the first audio file; 
 appending the first email with the first encrypted transcription; and 
 releasing the first email for transmittal to the first recipient address; 
 
   intercepting a second email designating a second recipient; and   in response to the recipient inclusion list excluding the second recipient address, releasing the second email for transmittal to the second recipient address.   
     
     
         2 . A method comprising:
 intercepting a first email designating a first recipient address;   in response to detecting a first audio file linked to the first email:
 accessing a recipient exclusion list; and 
 in response to the recipient exclusion list excluding the first recipient address:
 extracting the first audio file from the first email; 
 generating a first transcription of playback of the first audio file; 
 encrypting the first transcription to generate a first encrypted transcription; 
 appending the first email with the first encrypted transcription; and 
 releasing the first email for transmittal to the first recipient address; 
 
   intercepting a second email designating a second recipient address; and   in response to the recipient exclusion list including the second recipient address, releasing the second email for transmittal to the second recipient address.   
     
     
         3 . A method comprising:
 at a first time, intercepting a first email designating a recipient address;   in response to detecting a first audio file linked to the first email:
 accessing a recipient exclusion list; 
 in response to the recipient exclusion list excluding the recipient address:
 extracting the first audio file from the first email; 
 generating a transcription of playback of the first audio file; 
 encrypting the transcription according to an encryption protocol to generate an encrypted transcription; 
 appending the first email with the encrypted transcription and a pointer to an electronic document comprising a set of transcription options; and 
 releasing the first email for transmittal to the first recipient address; and 
 
 at a second time succeeding the first time, in response to selection of a first transcription option, in the set of transcription options, at the electronic document, appending the recipient exclusion list with the recipient address; 
   at a third time succeeding the second time, intercepting a second email designating the recipient address; and   in response to the recipient exclusion list including the recipient address, releasing the second email for transmittal to the recipient address.