Best email provder

[boing]

I'm on Virgin at the minute but I wanted to seperate my broadband provider from my email to give me the freedom to shop around without disrupting my emails (I'm self employed).

What would be a good sound, secure email provider to switch to?

 

[MustISO]

Are you looking for paid email services for a domain you own or just something like Gmail, Outlook.com, etc?

What type of security do you need (SSL/TLS/Encrypted Emails)?

 

[boing]

I'm only really familiar with yahoo/gmail so I'm really just looking for alternatives, free is prefereable but I'm aware that free and top line service don't always go hand in hand so if I have to pay I'll pay. Although I'm paying for Virgin at the minute and the spam was horrendous for a while.

As for security, I tend to send actual files via a download service so my emails themselves don't need anything excessive but I'm a bit wary of the fact that Google scans emails for advertising, I'd rather avoid that if possible.

 

[lxskllr]

I use openmailbox. Works well.

 

[paperwastage]

I'm a bit wary of the fact that Google scans emails for advertising, I'd rather avoid that if possible.

how many of your emails are sent out to google users (gmail domain, or hosted on google business)?

read somewhere about a user trying to avoid gmail/google... but he analyzed and saw that >70% of his emails go into google, and was pointless to avoid google

 

[boing]

Feck, I actually hadn't thought of that, I only imagined they scanned outgoing stuff for some reason.

 

[paperwastage]

Feck, I actually hadn't thought of that, I only imagined they scanned outgoing stuff for some reason.

free gmail - you're the product being sold to advertisers

if you want to use gmail (good interface/features/apps etc), but don't want to be sold, you can be the customer by "buying" the gmail product

https://support.google.com/work/answer/6056650?hl=en

Google for Work does not scan your data or email in Google Apps Services for advertising purposes.

Google processes your data to fulfill our contractual obligation to deliver our services. Google’s customers own their data, not Google. The data that companies, schools, and students put into our systems is theirs. Google does not sell your data to third parties. Google offers our customers a detailed Data Processing Amendment that describes our commitment to protecting your data.

Ernst & Young, an independent auditor, has verified that our privacy practices and contractual commitments for Google Apps for Work and Google Apps for Education comply with ISO/IEC 27018:2014. For example:

We do not use your data for advertising
The data that you entrust with us remains yours
We provide you with tools to delete and export your data
We are transparent about where your data is stored

you need your own domain name (~$1-$10/year) and monthly fee for google-for-work ($5/user/month)

but since you control your domain name, anything sent to @yourdomain.com can be forwarded to your main account... which means you have unlimited email addresses on your domain

more work unfortunately... I have my own domain forwarded to google-for-work (grandfathered into their free tier fortunately)

 

[boing]

Thanks for the info, I'll look into that but surely you'll still get scanned sending to free gmail so it's a simmilar position?

 

[paperwastage]

Thanks for the info, I'll look into that but surely you'll still get scanned sending to free gmail so it's a simmilar position?

yup

but then you get 30GB of storage (vs 15GB on gmail), and can store stuff there without being scanned (gmail, docs, sheets, drive etc)

https://support.google.com/a/answer/1186436
(1TB for the $10/user/month premium option, unlimited if you have at least 5 users on the premium option)

(surprisingly, if you just purchase google drive storage, it costs $2/100GB, $10/1TB, $100/10TB+... if you're paying $10/1TB, might as well pay for premium google apps for work)

what level of privacy do you care about?

 

[boing]

yup

but then you get 30GB of storage (vs 15GB on gmail), and can store stuff there without being scanned (gmail, docs, sheets, drive etc)

https://support.google.com/a/answer/1186436
(1TB for the $10/user/month premium option, unlimited if you have at least 5 users on the premium option)

(surprisingly, if you just purchase google drive storage, it costs $2/100GB, $10/1TB, $100/10TB+... if you're paying $10/1TB, might as well pay for premium google apps for work)

what level of privacy do you care about?

Well, that's hard to answer, I'm not dealing with life or death secrecy but I'm queasy about having emails automatically scanned for content. I guess in an ideal world I'm looking for a company with a good history against hackers and one that doesn't scan you for content but if, as you say, Google scans all incoming mail to gmail accounts that kind of shits all over that desire.

 

[balloonshark]

FWIW Yahoo also scans your emails.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

If you want to send private email to privacy invasive email providers (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc), then you can use Tutanota and send them password encrypted emails. Make sure to give the recipient the password via an alternative method (eg, text, phone, in person). Tutanota is free and they offer premium accounts that allow you to use your own personal domain.

 

[xgsound]

You could always get a gmail/ yahoo account in case an emergency comes up. They are free. You could use them for any "questionable" signups or not at all.
Be sure to write down your ID and password in a secure place since it may be years before you use them.

Jim

 

[flexy]

I have never, ever understood why some people need an "email provider". Even my company paid per month for an "email service" "for security", so they paid for hushmail which is a total joke since hushmail would be the first who'd give out data "to the authorities" should ever such a need arise.

Most web hosting allows to setup email. In fact, if you have a web-hosting account with unlimited addon domains, you can make email accounts for every domain. (But you can use sub-domains too so you don't have to purchase more actual domains)

Say, I buy a domain "flexycoolsite.com", host it on some web host, and then I put some addon domains on it (on the same hosting), I can basically make infinite emails.
flexy@flexycoolsite.com, lara@flexycoolsite.com, sales@flexycoolsite.com, sales@whateverotheraddondomain.com, contact@sales.flexycoolsite.com (sales = subdomain I made), info@customerservice.flexycoolsite.com (customerservice.flexycoolsite.com is another subdomain I made)
etc..etc... ad infinitum, and the entire things costs me $10 for a domain and maybe $10 for some cheap hosting.

In Thunderbird I would then enter the details for the emails (pop or imap etc.), that's it.

BESIDES...I hate Google....but I am using my Gmail for years and don't see a reason not to. I am using Thunderbird for all my emails, no web interface. (I honestly cannot even imagine how and why people check their emails with a webbrowser on a web interface...)

 

[boing]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, the consensus seems to be either a fully password protected service or just accept a certain amount of transparency as a market norm then.

 

[John Connor]

GMX.com has a nice feature to filter all domains in case of spam. If you use Thunderbird with a SMTP provider like GMX or Gmail, then add this addon and report the spam.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/abusix-spam-reporter/

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, the consensus seems to be either a fully password protected service or just accept a certain amount of transparency as a market norm then.

Tutanota does not have to be fully password protected, it's just a free email provider that provides that option in case you need it. Tutanota has the added bonus of not invading your privacy for "advertising" purposes. I have my own domain which I use for my primary email, but I also have Yahoo and Gmail accounts which are used strictly on an as-needed basis (I distrust Google so much that I have zero Google apps on my Android phone).

 

[John Connor]

(I distrust Google so much that I have zero Google apps on my Android phone).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29

And they probably backup all your Apps. If you distrust Google that much and maybe Apple, or even Winblows, get a Blackphone from Silent Circle!

 

[AnonymouseUser]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29

And they probably backup all your Apps. If you distrust Google that much and maybe Apple, or even Winblows, get a Blackphone from Silent Circle!

I am fully aware that Android is developed by Google, but I installed Cyanogenmod (based on AOSP) without installing Gapps. There are no Google apps or accounts on my phone.

 

[paperwastage]

Google scans all incoming mail to gmail accounts that kind of shits all over that desire.

that's the idea - provide a much better, free product, low friction (dont have to enter password to decrypt email all the time, or sign emails with PGP key)
have users come to you and you use them for other stuff (advertising, training for TTS/translation/AI/...)

I am fully aware that Android is developed by Google, but I installed Cyanogenmod (based on AOSP) without installing Gapps. There are no Google apps or accounts on my phone.

and then cyanogen inc has data on from your phone , unless you remove all that junk if it's there, and use firewalls

then you distrust the closed source modem and the potential hidden commands

and then you realize that your carrier might actually be tracking you without your consent. (at least verizon stopped it, affected only http )
http://arstechnica.com/business/201...es-violated-net-neutrality-transparency-rule/

then you decide not to use electronic stuff and live on cash only

oh well, again, it depends how paranoid much privacy do you care about, make sure everything you use is https encrypted (and none of your root CAs are compromised/doing things you don't agree with: http://arstechnica.com/security/201...rtificate-fraud-calls-ca-trust-into-question/

 

[AnonymouseUser]

and then cyanogen inc has data on from your phone , unless you remove all that junk if it's there, and use firewalls

They actually don't have any spyware, and I have their bundled Privacy Guard enabled until I allow apps specific permissions.

then you distrust the closed source modem and the potential hidden commands

Bought my own modem. Router has DD-WRT or Tomato which blocks ads, tracking cookies, malware, spyware, etc.

and then you realize that your carrier might actually be tracking you without your consent. (at least verizon stopped it)
http://arstechnica.com/business/2016...sparency-rule/

Not much I can do about the carrier except use OpenVPN (check) and/or TOR.

oh well, again, how paranoidmuch privacy do you care about

I care about not giving all my info to any one company or even a few. If anyone wants it they can get a warrant.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

make sure everything you use is https encrypted (and none of your root CAs are compromised/doing things you don't agree with: http://arstechnica.com/security/201...rtificate-fraud-calls-ca-trust-into-question/

They aren't the only "trusted" authority to worry about.

 

[John Connor]

I am fully aware that Android is developed by Google, but I installed Cyanogenmod (based on AOSP) without installing Gapps. There are no Google apps or accounts on my phone.

:thumbsup:

 

[smakme7757]

I would use https://protonmail.com/. You can use it for free or pay $5 a month for a plus account which i think is very reasonable.

I use openmailbox. Works well.

That does seem like an interesting service. My only problem with these types of free services is if they run out of money.

Do you know how they finance themselves, i can't imagine donations are enough to keep it going.

 

[John Connor]

In that case it would just be better to get a cheap shared hosting plan and create how many E-mail addresses you want.