Write and host your own SMTP server! ;)
Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?
541–550 of 589 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?
#542Earlier quoted context omitted.
> if it's encryption in the browser via a web interface, then it's not secure Ehh… The big difference from native apps is that native apps are often signed by the developer. While with web apps, there's normally only a more "temporary" form of signing, that is, the TLS session. Assuming the app developers are better at securing their offline signing keys than TLS server keys, native apps with signatures are indeed mo…
The web isn't more audit-able. The problem is that the web page loads on every request. This means that you, @floatboth, can be targeted with a broken client that leaks your keys next Wednesday between 13:00 and 14:00 and you'll never know it. A native app is not something that loads every time you open it. And the binary you get is the same binary that everyone else gets and if you suspect something fishy, you still…
1. ProtonMail implements the OpenPGP standard and is fully interoperable with other OpenPGP email systems.
2. The web app is a single page application so it does not reload on every request.
That said, you are correct that the web app is not appropriate when the threat model includes ProtonMail itself (though you can run the web app locally and thus sidestep the problem). The native clients are better suited in that case.
Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?
#543I’ve been paying for a Mini account at Runbox for 2 years.
I think they’re hosted in Norway or some other “safe(r)” location. The UI definitely needs some polish, including their marketing pages.
Functionality-wise it’s top notch. I’ve no complaints to log so far. I also use them for CalDAV, CardDAV, and host a domain with a sub-account my wife uses.
I’ve needed their customer support twice, and it was the best possible service in both accounts. This last time it was about 2FA after I locked myself out of my account. Really good service.
That’s that. I’ve used Proton and Tutanota before. A long way back I was a very happy customer of Lavabit. All of these are privacy-conscious.
Read the privacy policies, try to make sense of them. I would avoid Gmail like the plague, but I’m morally opposed to Google.
Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?
#544Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can self host and deliver to those addresses. Without troubles.
I've had no end of trouble. I'm not the only one according to reports from others online.
Unused IP, set PTR (seems important) and MX, SPF and DKIM, although I'm not sure how relevant the last one was.
I can imagine that Gmail will block you if you try to send mail from an IP that was previusly used to spam.
Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?
#545Earlier quoted context omitted.
The claim made was that they do. You don’t get to say that without providing evidence. You can say they might be, but that’s a different claim. Also, capabilities matter. I have no doubt if they could they would. The Snowden revelations mainly revealed partnerships between service providers and gov agencies. Simply existing in the US does not mean your data is automatically available to 3 letter agencies. It could, b…
> You don’t get to say that without providing evidence Put a parakeet in a windowless room and close the door. I can reasonably make the statement that the parakeet is perching, looking around, and/or preening its feathers, because that's what parakeets do. I wouldn't need direct observational evidence to make this statement. Panopticon-level spying is what intelligence agencies do. It's what they've striven to do, a…
Yes agencies like to spy. Do they have a camera in every house in America?
Again, I’m not saying they wouldn’t or wouldn’t like to. But saying “they do EVERYTHING post-Snowden” isn’t a very good argument, and definitely isn’t a fact.
And if the claim is “spy agencies spy” then the country of origin for your data probably doesn’t matter. Invoking “post-Snowden” usually relates to Prism, which was a partnership with specific providers.
Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?
#546Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which country? Try Transferwise and/or revolut if they are available where you are.
Although available in Japan where I live, there is literally no way to transfer money out of my bank. You may think it odd, but getting a bank account in a foreign country is actually hard. The bank I use is not my choice, but the choice of my former employer -- that's how I got the account. When I set up my own consulting company, I ended up using the same bank. I'm trying get out of it. I have an account with an of…
And revolut?
Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?
#547FastMail. It's one of the few third party hosts to support push email on iOS with the native Mail app (it's a custom protocol based on APNS), since Mail doesn't implement IMAP IDLE [1]. They are also the main sponsors behind the JMAP protocol [2] and some open source projects such as the Cyrus IMAP server. [1]: https://fastmail.blog/2016/12/21/what-we-talk-about-when-we-... [2]: https://jmap.io
Protonmail?
Based in Switzerland, client-side encryption
Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?
#548Tutanota: https://tutanota.com/ (Germany)
Proton: https://protonmail.com/ (Switzerland)
Fastmail: https://www.fastmail.com/ (Australia)
I went from self-hosted to fastmail for personal emails and I'm pretty happy with them. I have a gmail account too.
Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?
#549Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry, can you go into more detail? I don't understand your concern.
No OP, perhaps one could think they make such a big thing about security to try to attract lucrative accounts, which they then have backdoors into. As you can't verify their claims, all you can do is trust. If you want end-to-end encryption you should be gpg encrypting every mail, not relying on the unverifiable word on a provider. Any provider worth its salt will know that, thus wouldn't actually advertise an insecu…
I think you might be misinformed - their security is based on client-side encryption which is open source. See:
- https://protonmail.com/blog/protonmail-open-source-crytograp...
- https://protonmail.com/blog/protonmail-secure-email-open-sou...
You don't have to trust any of their server code - you only have to trust that the JavaScript blob they send you is actually the same as the open source version. This is the same threat model as trusting Signal from the App store instead of side-loading it yourself.
Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?
#550Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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. This is a very American thing which I can imagine our European counterparts not like, that is govt (USG) is treated as an enemy because it is the most powerful entity in the world. For Europeans, it would Govt AND these mega corporations (because…
> Similarly NRA wouldn't care if you got kicked out of a movie theater for being concealed carry, but if a local city tries to ban guns in movie theaters, then NRA would step in. Well, this isn't entirely accurate. They definitely do chafe at even private restrictions on anything gun. While I don't have time to research this right now, a quick search of "concealed carry in businesses" certainly returns some people co…
Are you just guessing or do you know for sure? I know it for sure because we want NRA to speak up, but they don't.