# Basic question about authentication

**URL:** <https://forum.solidproject.org/t/basic-question-about-authentication/642>\
**Category:** Solid: The Basics\
**Created:** [November 21, 2018, 9:34am UTC](https://forum.solidproject.org/t/basic-question-about-authentication/642 "2018-11-21T09:34:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 8

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**Author:** ![JornWildt](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.solidproject.org/jornwildt/32/112_2.png) [@JornWildt](https://forum.solidproject.org/u/JornWildt)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://forum.solidproject.org/t/basic-question-about-authentication/642/8 "2018-11-21T14:04:23Z")

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Data is not encrypted on the server. The client (typically a web browser) does not encrypt anything before sending it to the Solid server.

So if PODs are hosted “en masse” with a central POD provider, equivalent to Google e-mail hosting, you have not gained much in terms of security by using PODs.

But what you can do with a POD, which is not possible with for instance Facebook, Twitter or the likes, is that you can host your POD on a server under your own control and _still_ be able to use the same applications as if you chose a big shared POD host. This is similar to moving your e-mail off from gmail and onto your own hosted server. The e-mails do not get encrypted by that move, but now you have control of what the content is used for.

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