Free from Big Tech: Email
If you want to break free from big tech and don't know which email provider to choose, these tips might help.
Big Tech email services like Google Mail or Outlook are notorious for invading user privacy by collecting a lot of data and scanning your emails. Imagine the postman opening and reading every letter that you send and receive. A creepy thought, but that's exactly what's happening. And not only that: This data is being used to enrich the profile these companies have of you in order to either serve you more targeted advertising or sell that data to data brokers.
This article assumes that you don't need more convincing and want an overview of which options you have. A lot of our online lives revolve around email because we use it to write emails (duh), but we also use it to log in to various platforms and receive newsletters. That's why we will start with email. In later articles, we will cover more topics such as calendar, cloud storage and more.
These are your options:
Self-hosting
Getting your own domain name is common for website owners. Still, a lot of private individuals are not aware of this option. With your own domain, like example@yourdomain.com, you can create as many email addresses as you want and use those to login into different accounts, in order to stay a bit more private in case that email address leaks because of a data breach or in order to avoid being negatively affected by having only one email, which could get sold by data brokers and accumulate a lot of spam. You could just use that email for a certain social media account, for example, and only use it to log in there. It doesn't serve as your communication email, and thus you're free from spam. When you no longer use that account for some reason, you can delete it and get rid of that email address also. This is also the use case for email aliases. Some email providers let you create email aliases that serve a similar purpose, but compared to having multiple email addresses like in the example above, aliases have the disadvantage that all emails land in the same inbox. So you might accumulate more spam compared to having different email addresses.
Note that if you only order a domain for something like 12 bucks a year, most of the time it does not include email. That's more something that is included in a web hosting package, but offers differ, so make sure you know what you order.
With self-hosting, you can either use the webmail service of your hosting provider or connect your domain to an email provider like the ones below. You can also connect that email to an email client, like Thunderbird.
Webmail
The webmail interface usually looks a bit clunky compared to the fancy and clean UI we are used to nowadays. They work fine for basic email tasks, but if you want more customization, one of the options below might be better suited.
Custom domain + Email provider
A lot of email providers let you connect their service with your custom domain. This gives you a solid combination of a custom email address, if you need one, and the benefit of not having to manage your email setup yourself.
Email client
Instead of using the webmail interface, you might want to give an email client a try. This gives you more options to manage multiple email accounts, folders to sort your emails, and advanced workflows such as calendar integrations and more.
Downsides of self-hosting
A cautionary word on privacy and self-hosting. While on the one hand, you can achieve more privacy by setting up different email addresses that are easy to delete, one can argue that you have less privacy because a domain can only be registered by an actual person or a business. You have to give your correct name and address in order to register a domain. Potentially, this data is public if your provider doesn't anonymize your WHOIS record. So with "WHOIS lookup" sites, you can search and find the name and address of domain owners.
Other providers anonymize the WHOIS records of their clients, allowing for more privacy, at least when facing the public.
Your data can still be prompted by authorities. Another consideration is security: unless your provider takes care of it, you have to deal with security technologies like DNSSEC, DANE and SPF to keep your account safe. That is usually outside the circle of competence of most people.
In comparison, some of the email providers that we are going to discuss below let you set up an account with them in a privacy-respecting manner. Some don't even ask for your name and address and let you pay via cash mail-ins or cryptocurrency.
Email provider
If you just want to set up your email address and go about living your life without setting everything up by yourself, choose one of the following excellent options. Some of them allow you to use email aliases or throwaway email addresses that you can use if you don't want to use your real email when you have to sign up somewhere or when there's a public event where you're required to enter your email address.
mailbox.org
Alternative to: Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail
Open Source: Mostly
Website: https://mailbox.org/
Audited: Yes
Payment methods: Credit card, PayPal, Bank transfer
Available for: Web client or third-party email clients like Thunderbird
Posteo
Alternative to: Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail
Open Source: Yes
Website: https://posteo.de/en
Audited: Yes
Payment methods: Bank transfer, cash, PayPal or with a credit card
Available for: Web client or third-party email clients like Thunderbird
Disroot
Alternative to: Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail
Open Source: Yes
Website: https://disroot.org/en
Audited: No info
Payment methods: Donations via Liberapay, Patreon, PayPal, Stripe, Cryptocurrency or bank transfer
Available for: Web client or third-party email clients like Thunderbird
Proton Mail and Tuta offer great encrypted email services. They don't offer native IMAP support, though, which means you can't access your emails via an email client like Thunderbird. For some, this might not be an issue, for others, this might be a disqualifier.
If you don't want to be dependent on the web app or app of a company, you might want to choose one of the providers above.
Proton Mail
Alternative to: Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail
Open Source: Yes
Website: https://proton.me/mail
Audited: Yes
Payment methods: Credit card, Debit card, PayPal
Available for: Web client
Downsides: No native IMAP support
Workaround: Proton Mail Bridge, but it doesn't work with every client and not on mobile
Tuta
Alternative to: Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail
Open Source: Yes
Website: https://proton.me/mail
Audited: Yes
Payment methods: Credit card, PayPal, Bank transfer (EU business customers)
Available for: Web client
Downsides: No native IMAP support
Emails are the postcards of the internet
While it is always a good idea to use a privacy-respecting email service, you should be aware of the fact that emails are not a completely private thing. Emails are the postcards of the internet. In a lot of cases, the content of the email can be read by both parties. So if you have a privacy-respecting email provider, but you write a personal message to someone using Google Mail, that content is still being processed by Google. Even if you encrypt your messages, the metadata, i.e., the sender and recipient of the email, and subject lines are still being shared between both providers. For truly private and End-to-end encrypted (E2EE) communication, I highly recommend you use a messenger like Signal, Threema or Briar.
And that's it. Equipped with that knowledge, you can choose an email solution that fits your needs and protects your privacy. Some of the providers offer an import function for people migrating from services like Google Mail.
If you found this useful or just want to say Hi, feel free to contact me.
