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Google has most of my email because it has all of yours (2014)

mako.cc

141–150 of 400 posts

Re: Google has most of my email because it has all of yours (2014)

#141
post #26

Having your own email/domain isn’t about privacy. Email has become essentially the key to almost everything in modern life. If I lose access to my email I lose access to basically everything I own and it would be a massive hassle to switch emails. Banks, schools, apps, etc. Often times these services won’t even let you change to a new email if you don’t have access to an existing one. Some use email as 2factor. It’s…

Go through that exercise of ditching that email. You will find out the 2-3 things you need absolute plan a/b/c for. Seriously, reset your email password to something you can never remember and write it down and have someone hold it for a month (don’t tell them what is it, tuck it in an envelope). Let your mind run circles around your fears and you’ll find out how little that email account owns you. Freezing one credi…

> "Let your mind run circles around your fears and you’ll find out how little that email account owns you."

This year I have recieved an email from a city councill if a city where I no longer live, that were about to sue me for underpaying some bill years ago.

If I followed your advise I would be on the hook for serous money and headache

Re: Google has most of my email because it has all of yours (2014)

#142
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it known that domain registrars are better than GMail in this regard? Not asking sarcastically, but I had my domain taken over by registrar(not released to public, just registrar took control of it) after few week of notice when auto renew failed to charge my credit card, and my credit card was working fine elsewhere. Also many registrar like Namecheap cancelled subscription for Russian customers during this invas…

Yep. For the last month, I have been exclusively giving out GMail as "my personal email" instead of .ru, but it was more of an emotional thing. Thinking of it, I genuinely don't know which of these is less reliable in the long run for a Russian citizen: GMail, Russian registrar or a foreign registrar for . .

And everyone in the UK with .eu addresses suddenly had to switch or find addresses abroad to use a couple of years ago.

Re: Google has most of my email because it has all of yours (2014)

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it known that domain registrars are better than GMail in this regard? Not asking sarcastically, but I had my domain taken over by registrar(not released to public, just registrar took control of it) after few week of notice when auto renew failed to charge my credit card, and my credit card was working fine elsewhere. Also many registrar like Namecheap cancelled subscription for Russian customers during this invas…

Now you know why there are still some people that still take "web3" seriously. It's the only system where you are not at the mercy of some external entity to be always benevolent. Seriously, ENS and Handshake alone should be enough of a reason to silence all of those who keep repeating "but blockchain has no real world applications".

What does Ethereum Name Service have to do with email domains?

How does one receive email from e.g. one's bank, at a Handshake domain?

The "real world" in which Handshake and ENS are useful isn't the world I'm living in.

Re: Google has most of my email because it has all of yours (2014)

#144
post #26

Having your own email/domain isn’t about privacy. Email has become essentially the key to almost everything in modern life. If I lose access to my email I lose access to basically everything I own and it would be a massive hassle to switch emails. Banks, schools, apps, etc. Often times these services won’t even let you change to a new email if you don’t have access to an existing one. Some use email as 2factor. It’s…

Is it known that domain registrars are better than GMail in this regard? Not asking sarcastically, but I had my domain taken over by registrar(not released to public, just registrar took control of it) after few week of notice when auto renew failed to charge my credit card, and my credit card was working fine elsewhere. Also many registrar like Namecheap cancelled subscription for Russian customers during this invas…

Nothings perfect. I think if you use a reputable register with support and a paid email host with support you have less risk than a gmail where they can lock you out and you cant do password recovery because some filter triggered.

I would add two other things. - Prepay the domain for a large number of years (10y) to avoid billing issues. - Keep a local copy of your email on atleast one machine (either just in a desktop client, or do regular exports).

Re: Google has most of my email because it has all of yours (2014)

#145
post #26

Having your own email/domain isn’t about privacy. Email has become essentially the key to almost everything in modern life. If I lose access to my email I lose access to basically everything I own and it would be a massive hassle to switch emails. Banks, schools, apps, etc. Often times these services won’t even let you change to a new email if you don’t have access to an existing one. Some use email as 2factor. It’s…

Go through that exercise of ditching that email. You will find out the 2-3 things you need absolute plan a/b/c for. Seriously, reset your email password to something you can never remember and write it down and have someone hold it for a month (don’t tell them what is it, tuck it in an envelope). Let your mind run circles around your fears and you’ll find out how little that email account owns you. Freezing one credi…

I see you are getting a lot of negative comments so wanted to let you know I agree this is a good thing. Creating chaos is the only way to take away power from digital bureaucracy and surveillance systems. Make multiple conflicting linkedin profiles in your name, share a WhatsApp account with friends, delete and recreate your Instagram profile every year.

Re: Google has most of my email because it has all of yours (2014)

#147
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this really a thing? I had a .eu domain for years. I only let it go this year(it was on annual renewal) . My registered address was and is still in UK and I never had any trouble from my registrar(eurodns) about the EU domain. Or do they do it based on the payment method? (I might have used an EU cc to renew)?

Apparently it is true: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/registering-and-renewing-eu-doma... It seems .eu domains are more or less only available to people who live in the EU/EEA, hold EU/EEA citizenship or businesses that conduct business in the region.

And that was always so; it's not "more-or-less", you've never been able to have a .eu domain unless you "belong to" the EU, for various values of "belong to". Always read the T&C.

Re: Google has most of my email because it has all of yours (2014)

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it known that domain registrars are better than GMail in this regard? Not asking sarcastically, but I had my domain taken over by registrar(not released to public, just registrar took control of it) after few week of notice when auto renew failed to charge my credit card, and my credit card was working fine elsewhere. Also many registrar like Namecheap cancelled subscription for Russian customers during this invas…

Now you know why there are still some people that still take "web3" seriously. It's the only system where you are not at the mercy of some external entity to be always benevolent. Seriously, ENS and Handshake alone should be enough of a reason to silence all of those who keep repeating "but blockchain has no real world applications".

Well you are still at the mercy of whoever's maintaining the network, aka some random-ass people all over the world. Aside from the few main ones, crypto networks are infamously ever changing and you're more likely to register a domain on something that won't even exist in 2 years because it collapsed completely. Maybe Eth is to big to fail now, but maybe it isn't.

Re: Google has most of my email because it has all of yours (2014)

#149
post #82

I think this is everywhere. In India, people in the departments, especially the Governments usually ask, "What is your Gmail?" Almost everyone uses Gmail here and it is extremely rare to find their own custom domain. I'm actually surprised that the Government Departments do not have a service that takes care of these! They will fine Google but almost all of the government email IDs are Gmail. I was one of those that…

It would be interesting to know how many of government agencies use Google email services? Is the email interaction between citizen and state now predominantly in the hands of a foreign third party?

In Netherlands: not just the government, also pretty much every major business and even Universities (Groningen comes to mind). And not just Google, but also Microsoft (Teams, Outlook, etc).

I've often wondered whether that is the real main reason why so little innovation comes out of Europe vs the US: everything of economic, academic and geopolitical importance in Europe is streamed straight to the US and the sender is paying for the service of having valuable information leakable.

Source: Snowden.

Re: Google has most of my email because it has all of yours (2014)

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now you know why there are still some people that still take "web3" seriously. It's the only system where you are not at the mercy of some external entity to be always benevolent. Seriously, ENS and Handshake alone should be enough of a reason to silence all of those who keep repeating "but blockchain has no real world applications".

What does Ethereum Name Service have to do with email domains? How does one receive email from e.g. one's bank, at a Handshake domain? The "real world" in which Handshake and ENS are useful isn't the world I'm living in.

I’m not necessarily defending web3, but you’re asking the wrong question. Your same question could have been asked about email in general in the early aughts. But clearly, mass adoption happened, and the calculus changed. Sure, your statement is strictly correct, but completely uninteresting.
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