CounterMail Logo PNG
“All emails are secure,” says the CounterMail logo. Thanks to the “lock” on the emblem, outsiders cannot read the correspondence. The built-in elements of the code prevent hacking, and service customers can feel completely at ease.
Simon Persson grew up in Stockholm and received his first computer in 1983, a Spectrum 48k with 48 KB of memory and a 3.5 MHz processor. While many children used computers mainly for games, Persson focused on programming. By the late 1980s, his interest had shifted toward hacking and cryptography.
In 1999, his mother gave him Simon Singh’s The Code Book. The book shaped his view of encryption as a practical matter of life, secrecy, and future communication. From that year, Persson began adding cryptography to almost every program he wrote, even when it was not technically required.
For years, he used Hushmail, then seen as a secure alternative to regular email. In 2007, reports that Hushmail could cooperate with law enforcement and disable encryption for a specific user changed his view of the market. Persson later said there was no other web-based OpenPGP end-to-end encrypted provider at the time.
In 2008, he registered the CounterMail domain, and in May 2010, the service opened to the public. Its servers run without hard drives, using CD-ROM only, so data in memory is not written to storage. Incoming mail is encrypted with the recipient’s public key before storage; passwords and decrypted messages never reach the server; IP addresses are not logged; and payments can be made anonymously, including in Bitcoin. After Edward Snowden’s 2013 PRISM revelations, interest in private email rose, and rivals such as ProtonMail appeared. CounterMail remained a paid Stockholm-based service under Swedish privacy law.
Meaning and History
As Simon Persson admits, the prehistory of his brand began in 1983, when he received his first computer. By today’s standards, it was an exotic, ancient, and low-powered device: a 3.5 MHz processor, 48k RAM, and a Spectrum model. But this was enough to arouse teenagers’ interest in the digital world. When all his peers were into games, he took up programming. For him, it became subject number one. The rest moved to second place because Persson has been busy creating utilities ever since.
In the late 1980s, he became interested in cryptography and hacking. The young man realized even then that IT security is the future. He clearly understood that computerization of society would only grow, and that companies would migrate to virtual space and begin transmitting information over the Internet. And it would need strong protection. Simon began to master this industry by studying and practicing extensively, realizing, through the example of wars, that data security is a matter of life and death. After all, reliable encryption can save lives, while weak encryption can ruin them.
What is CounterMail?
CounterMail is a paid email service with total privacy protection, owned by a Swedish company. Email anonymity is maintained through the OpenPGP protocol. Computer programmer Simon Persson created the service. Domain name registration was completed in 2008, and the mail system launched in 2010.
As a result, in 1999, the young specialist began implementing cryptography in most of his programs. Simon Persson used HushMail to communicate and work, but in 2007, the young man realized that the service could disable user protection. And no other mail service offered end-to-end OpenPGP encryption. So he decided to create what he needed himself: a server that stored only encrypted emails, with no passwords or logins. In 2008, Persson obtained a domain registration and, two years later (in 2010), launched his mail service with full security.
The CounterMail logo shows a harmonious combination of graphics and text. And it’s designed to be easily used as a standalone icon for a mobile app or website. The upper inscription consists of the original futuristic lowercase letters. They have smooth curves, rounded corners, and bold lines. These symbols are so twisted that they are more reminiscent of the schematic designation of some automobile or sports track than the linguistic signs of the alphabet.
Of particular interest are the “N,” “E,” and “M.” They are composed entirely of sloping elements, with no straight lines or angles. The “R” is also curious. Its right leg is the opposite: it rests on the sharp end of the diagonal, and the broad part of the slope is directed upward. The underside of “L” is elongated because it bears a lock made up of three equal-sized fragments. Above them, as expected, is the shackle in the form of a staple. This detail symbolizes the postal service’s firm protection against unauthorized encroachment. This concept is confirmed by the lower inscription, made in the same style as the name.
Font and Colors
The text part of the CounterMail logo is set in a custom typeface. Its characters are reminiscent of the Nasalization typeface used in the old NASA emblem, dubbed “the worm.” The color scheme is two-part, with pastel green and gray. They are located on a white background.