Lets take it a different way: You're knowingly sending your data to a 3rd party. You're not encrypting. It's not through the USPS (special protections). It seems bloody evident that, of course, your email provider can read your emails! Unless you're encrypting with GPG, then they can (and they can still read the signing keys). Yahoo, Google, and friends all scan, dedup, and all sorts of tricks to determine marketing…
I wholeheartedly agree with you, pragmatically. But you also have to take into account why there are special protections on the USPS. Privacy is a quality people generally expect to have. The USPS protections were created after the long social feedback cycle it took for people to realize what they were missing. We're going through another one of those cycles now, where people are finally realizing how surveilled-by-d…
I would be for something akin to "Swiss Banking requirements for Data" - where companies are NOT allowed to share data unless given exception in writing/cryptographically. I'm sure we can expound on these ideas collectively.
I'd also be OK with services that DO treat data as a semipermeable membrane. Think of what Google has done with all their free services. They make neural models that they (and others they choose to release) can exploit to great effect. In cases like this, there needs to be a simple chart; think of something like this https://tldrlegal.com/license/apache-license-2.0-(apache-2.0... . I also think of these services as bringing technology to me when I could not afford it... And yes, it has been a wonderful boon for me, and I'm sure as for Google as well.
I also want to be able to request all the data on my account, sent to me in a reasonable format (multiple of: Zip, ftp, file share, mailed DVDs for reasonable price). European Union already has that law, to great effect. I should also be able to legally command a company to remove my content. If copyright is so great, I should be able to revoke their rights to it as well due to copyright.
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I get privacy. I get how networks work, and how the Internet works. I know how mailservers work, as well as file deduplication. And I see a glaring hole in the technology that allows an action, a-ethical companies that will do anything to get ahead, and a government hell-bent on dismantling privacy and data security all to stop today's big bad monster, terrorism.
I'm also guaranteed on watch lists. I'm a minor Tor developer, and greatly utilizes Tor in many ways. In fact, my network resides in Tor-Space. I've figured out how to get Linux to resolve .onion addresses seamlessly, and have .onion endpoints on all my Linux machines. I also work with IPFS and Zeronet, both technologies that have some very... interesting content as well.
It's my little corner of the Net... And if I help others with my tech, awesome. If enough of us do this, then we can start stemming the tide of data insecurity. But I also remember, parts of these issues are with the Political system, and not of technology. Until these older, technologically ignorant politicians die or retire, and Millenials come in, we're stuck. At least we've grown up with it.