I live a pretty boring life (in a good way) and don't expect NSA to come knocking on my door anytime soon.
I do not, however, want a total surveillance profile built on me by Google, which can be eventually misused. I certainly don't want my kids to be profiled from early age. Especially now that the tech companies are increasingly starting to mix business with ideology.
So, an encrypted email service may be an overkill for me, but I do want an email service that doesn't datamine my info and sell it.
For now, I've been using Outlook.com - just because it's not Google, so it's not going to get my location and call and browsing history in one huge database. And Google does seem to be the worst offender. But I am not convinced at all that MS is much better, or will not turn as bad eventually.
My requirements are: better privacy, iOS app, reasonable amount of storage, free or inexpensive (I'd need to set up at least 3 accounts so it's going to get pricey), reliability, ability to export / backup my emails outside of service, decent search, good track record (I.e. likely to be here years from now)
So far I've considered these:
Outlook.com - I know that MS is reading user's emails and has been caught selling (anonymized, they claim) user data to political campaigns for targeted election advertising. They seem a bit better than Google though, and the service itself is good. This is just a temporary fallback measure, for now.
Yahoo - sucks, plain and simple.
Apple mail - possibly better privacy than Outlook.com, have been considering it. Still trying to figure out if Apple can be trusted more than MS. Would have to get a paid iCloud plan since I don't have enough free space in my free account. Slow web interface.
GMX - seemed like a decent email system, located in Germany so even if they mine users' emails, the data is likely to stay overseas. But there's too many posts complaining of user accounts getting inexplicably frozen or deleted.
Protonmail - no way to export or backup emails, given that the discussion about possibly adding this option is almost three years old, probably not likely to happen anytime soon. This is the biggest obstacle. Otherwise I could set up one paid and two free accounts.
Tutanota - no search.
Fastmail - a possibility, but setting up three accounts (one for each family member) can get pricey.
I could consider an email provider located in Europe, but not China or Russia.
Any recommendations?
I do not, however, want a total surveillance profile built on me by Google, which can be eventually misused. I certainly don't want my kids to be profiled from early age. Especially now that the tech companies are increasingly starting to mix business with ideology.
So, an encrypted email service may be an overkill for me, but I do want an email service that doesn't datamine my info and sell it.
For now, I've been using Outlook.com - just because it's not Google, so it's not going to get my location and call and browsing history in one huge database. And Google does seem to be the worst offender. But I am not convinced at all that MS is much better, or will not turn as bad eventually.
My requirements are: better privacy, iOS app, reasonable amount of storage, free or inexpensive (I'd need to set up at least 3 accounts so it's going to get pricey), reliability, ability to export / backup my emails outside of service, decent search, good track record (I.e. likely to be here years from now)
So far I've considered these:
Outlook.com - I know that MS is reading user's emails and has been caught selling (anonymized, they claim) user data to political campaigns for targeted election advertising. They seem a bit better than Google though, and the service itself is good. This is just a temporary fallback measure, for now.
Yahoo - sucks, plain and simple.
Apple mail - possibly better privacy than Outlook.com, have been considering it. Still trying to figure out if Apple can be trusted more than MS. Would have to get a paid iCloud plan since I don't have enough free space in my free account. Slow web interface.
GMX - seemed like a decent email system, located in Germany so even if they mine users' emails, the data is likely to stay overseas. But there's too many posts complaining of user accounts getting inexplicably frozen or deleted.
Protonmail - no way to export or backup emails, given that the discussion about possibly adding this option is almost three years old, probably not likely to happen anytime soon. This is the biggest obstacle. Otherwise I could set up one paid and two free accounts.
Tutanota - no search.
Fastmail - a possibility, but setting up three accounts (one for each family member) can get pricey.
I could consider an email provider located in Europe, but not China or Russia.
Any recommendations?
