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Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

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Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#461

Post by epicide »

mda wrote: post #433
Riverheart wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Privacy wise, you're paying for the service so there's a reasonable expectation that they're not mining your emails to build a profile of you. Unlike Google they have no ads to serve you.

How are they mining your emails to build a profile of you? Besides when you use such a service all your personal emails are stored in servers. One rubber stamp away from total ownage.

> all your personal emails are stored in [someone else's] servers.

Well, yeah. That's true for everything except for hardware you actually own.

They're saying it's better than storing it on Google's servers, not that it's bulletproof.

There really isn't a way to have impenetrable email. It's all about what type and level of risks you're willing to take.

E.g. are you concerned more about rubber stamps or software exploits? Are you more concerned about usage pattern profiles or someone actually reading the content of your messages?

Different people have different priorities and there is no one single best option.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#462

Post by lmedinas »

tkim90 wrote: post #435

Can anyone expliain why G Suite (the paid version of Gmail) is not considered safe for data privacy? From the site it says they are encrypted, regularly audited by 3rd parties and not used for ads. https://gsuite.google.com/faq/security/

copy & paste from that link:

" This encryption happens as it is written to disk, without the customer having to take any action. Google encrypts data with distinct encryption keys, even if they belong to the same customer. Data is encrypted using 128-bit or stronger Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

Google encrypts core G Suite data while it is “in transit” as well, whether it is traveling over the Internet between the customer and Google, or moving within Google as it shifts from one data center to another. We encrypt this data between Google and our customers using HTTPS with forward secrecy. "

The truth nobody knows but it seems that they encrypt with their own keys so that means they can open the data and read it.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#463

Post by sigfubar »

tkim90 wrote: post #435

Can anyone expliain why G Suite (the paid version of Gmail) is not considered safe for data privacy? From the site it says they are encrypted, regularly audited by 3rd parties and not used for ads. https://gsuite.google.com/faq/security/

G Suite isn't private because Google isn't in the privacy or productivity business. It's an advertising company that happens to have a product line which looks like a productivity suite. Charging money for it is just a nifty way to defray the costs of collecting data for advertising purposes.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#464

Post by bad_user »

ryukafalz wrote: post #398
bad_user wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an European, but I don't mind. First of all when making such a choice, you have to identify who the enemy is. If you're talking about global enemies, like the NSA, then IMO without end-to-end encryption you're screwed. And if you're targeted directly, you're screwed regardless, given they have the capability to use whatever vulnerabilities they can find in your router, your phone, your OS, your browser, etc. If i…

>Organizations like EFF have been historically anti-government, but very pro corporate and private companies. I don't think I'd call EFF either anti-government or pro-corporate. Rather, they have a set of positions around surveillance, the public domain, etc. and side with or against governments or private companies based on those positions. I donate to them, and in my experience they've been pretty consistent on the…

I don't want to attack EFF, I think they are on the right side, but it's just a general feeling I've got.

For example when the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal broke loose, that was the perfect opportunity for them to go out against private surveillance, guns blazing. Their reaction was late and with an article like "here's how to protect against Facebook tracking", advising people to opt out in their Settings and to install Privacy Badger, this happening when everybody else was freaking out and doing #DeleteFacebook pieces.

I donated to EFF modest amounts in the past and probably will do so again, because the fights they are fighting are good for us. Maybe they pick their battles, I don't know. But I'm seeing a general pattern in their attacks, which is that they go very light on companies, compared with how they deal with governments.

Maybe it has to do, as always, with their source of funding. I can imagine that they received significant donations from the philanthropists of Silicon Valley. I don't care much though. My general point being that there's too much emphasis lately on government surveillance and control from privacy organizations and less on Google/Facebook surveillance.

I'm glad that there's now mindfulness about it in this community though.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#465

Post by patrec »

aidenn0 wrote: post #452
ryukafalz wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Organizations like EFF have been historically anti-government, but very pro corporate and private companies. I don't think I'd call EFF either anti-government or pro-corporate. Rather, they have a set of positions around surveillance, the public domain, etc. and side with or against governments or private companies based on those positions. I donate to them, and in my experience they've been pretty consistent on the…

They do see government surveillance as a greater threat than private surveillance, particularly if the private surveillance is disclosed. This makes sense as it is much harder to opt-out of your government than a contract with a private company.

I'd be surprised if it weren't easier for you personally to relocate to a different country than to opt out of any interaction with google.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#466

Post by topbanana »

bad_user wrote: post #314
simfoo wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing to keep in mind about Fastmail is that all their servers are hosted in the US and they have no plan about changing this (I asked). Post-Snowden this means you can be quite sure that all mails will end up being analysed by the US authorities

I'm an European, but I don't mind. First of all when making such a choice, you have to identify who the enemy is. If you're talking about global enemies, like the NSA, then IMO without end-to-end encryption you're screwed. And if you're targeted directly, you're screwed regardless, given they have the capability to use whatever vulnerabilities they can find in your router, your phone, your OS, your browser, etc. If i…

I would like to go on record to say that the NSA aren't my enemy either. Definitely not. Especially the analyst reading this - great suit!

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#468

Post by bad_user »

bogomipz wrote: post #444
bad_user wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an European, but I don't mind. First of all when making such a choice, you have to identify who the enemy is. If you're talking about global enemies, like the NSA, then IMO without end-to-end encryption you're screwed. And if you're targeted directly, you're screwed regardless, given they have the capability to use whatever vulnerabilities they can find in your router, your phone, your OS, your browser, etc. If i…

>"Organizations like EFF have been historically anti-government ..." Can you provide a citation or examples of this? Being pro-civil liberties does not imply anti-government. Those aren't mutually exclusive. In the US civil liberties are basic freedoms identified in the Bill or Rights and the Constitution. And the Constitution is what established the government in the first place. How is it possible to be pro-civil l…

> Being pro-civil liberties does not imply anti-government.

You're right, that's bad phrasing on my part.

I explained what I meant here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18058240

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#469

Post by spacehome »

minxomat wrote: post #73
fvargas wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fastmail has worked well for me with custom domains. It's nice being able to create custom aliases for when an address is publicly visible e.g. GitHub so I know through what funnel emails are coming from. Like others have said, the Android app is not worth installing unless you're okay with limited and, in some cases, poor functionality. I suppose you can set it up with the Gmail or Outlook Android apps? I've never t…

You can funnel mail with Gmail, too using extensions. Although some online forms incorrectly reject this. Looks like this: notmyaddress+github@gmail.com

This is too well known to be useful anymore.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#470

Post by chrisper »

samlewis wrote: post #315
_jcwu wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should be using your own domain anyways.

Last time I tried this, I found a lot of corporate spam filters seemed to (silently) drop my emails, so I went back to using GMail out of frustration. Is there anything you do that helps with this? I was using GApps and I don't think my domain name was too spammy (samlewis.me).

Don't use any of the "unsual" TLDs, like .io, .me, .toys, etc.
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