When you subscribed to the mailman list(s) you are on, the page stated: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- You must enter a privacy password. This provides only mild security, but should prevent others from messing with your subscription. Do not use a valuable password as it will occasionally be emailed back to you in cleartext. Once a month, your password will be emailed to you as a reminder. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mailman Emails you your password by default every month. This is mainly for people who don't read instructions and don't save Emails with information, like their password. Of course, people who don't read instructions may use a valuable password for mailman and complain later that it got Emailed to them. I guess list owners lose either way, but experience has shown that it's not as bad when the password is sent monthly, which is why it's a default that individual list owners can turn off. If you are worried about the security aspects of sending the password in clear, worst case, someone could change your list settings or unsubscribe you from the list. It honestly really isn't the end of the world, and it doesn't warrant encryption or complicated methods that would increase security but confuse users.