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Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

giuliomagnifico.blog

61–70 of 406 posts

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#61
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own a domain that I use as my primary email address, but it's a "premium" domain that costs quite a bit to lease every year. To me the main concern here is that my payment fails, I don't notice, the domain goes up for sale and somebody grabs it. Then they have access to everything. So, I use my personal domain for all mail except anything that's "vital" like government websites, banking, paying rent, etc. for which…

If you can afford it, renew the domain for 10 years into the future (which means having it paid for till 2035, for example). Every year, renew the domain for one more year so that it’s always paid for 10 years into the future. If payment fails or you’re busy with something else, you’d still have several years of no worrying (some caveats and risks may still apply depending on the TLD and registrar).

That's a good idea, I might see if I can do it. It was registered with Google Domains but got transferred over to Squarespace, idk if they offer long-term renewals.

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#62
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't sound like they do on-disk encryption like ProtonMail. Is that right?

You mean e2e? on-disk encryption (ie. "encryption at rest") is basically used by everyone, including gmail and outlook.

You can tell how well I've researched this ;) but yes.

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't sound like they do on-disk encryption like ProtonMail. Is that right?

Mailbox doesn’t support it, but on mailbox you can use your IMAP app with Proton not. And on mailbox you can easily send and receive PGP encrypted mail on mailbox.org. They provide a page for key import, allowing you to send encrypted emails like regular mail when needed. It’s your choice, if you always want to use proton mail app everywhere you can use proton.

I use IMAP with Proton. Thunderbird is my main mail client. You just need to install the bridge.

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#64

I spent the past month "de-Googling" my life after I saw a notice in my Gmail inbox that it was 20 years old. I took a step back and realized just how invested into the Google ecosystem I was. Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Drive, Maps, Keep, Photos, YouTube, FitBit, Android. Basically my entire digital life. My goal was more diversifying than security/privacy, but security/privacy is a really nice bonus. I ended up going wi…

I've taken steps to degoogle too, but like you I've rather stuck on Android because over the years I've ossified a set of tools I like (KeepassDX and Syncthing are really important, and Firefox on Android is actually damn good).

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#65
post #7

I started the get itchy about so much of my life sitting on Google about 5 years ago, so I decided to take the leap to Fastmail and haven’t looked back. Didn’t need to do anything special for the migration. The in house importer they offer pulled over 80GB in a day and I was set from there. Fastmail isn’t going to give you end to end encryption - but - I think just shedding a major Google service is a massive win pri…

This solves the "dependence on Gmail" problem (which is definitely a worthy problem to solve) but not the general "dependence on a particular mail provider" problem. The next step in this walk-down-the-risk-chain is self-hosting on a VPS, where you're now just dependent on your VPS provider, and the next step could be self-hosting on your own metal, where you're now just dependent on your ISP. Happy trails!

There's no reason to self-host your e-mail server. As long as you own your domain, you can simply point the DNS to a different provider when you want to switch.

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#66
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It exists: just port your domain name to a new registrar, and/or point your mx records to a new email provider. Phone number is just a user number. Email addresses are a user name at a server name. A little harder to do if you're looking for something as ubiquitous as phone number porting. The closest thing to a server name when it comes to phone numbers, would be the network it is on. For example, there is the publi…

The problem is that I would still need to "port out" my email address manually to a new domain name. It's not an exaggeration to say that there are probably over a hundred places I would need to make that change.

What's the problem? Do it during a slow day when you're bored. Doesn't take a lot of time or effort. Keep the old e-mail around for any strays that you forgot.

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#68

How do I get my family to move off of Gmail? I keep telling them that Google spies on you, but they don’t care because it is free and it works. How reliable are these providers and what are the chances these providers emails would bounce or go to spam when sending an email?

I did it by moving to the Proton ecosystem: Proton Mail, Proton Calendar, and Proton Pass, with the added bonus of Proton VPN.

As much as I don't necessarily like it, I think we have to put a price on our privacy and personal data. And for me, paying for the Proton family plan seems like a good trade-off, at least for now. So far, I haven't got any emails to bounce when using the @pm.me or @proton.me email addresses, except once (I forgot which web site).

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#69

How do you deal with emails bouncing or going to spam? I have been looking to move away from Gmail but last I read it was the only reliable option out there.

You should be fine on the big providers. There's a weird horseshoe situation where anti-Google doomposting looks a lot like pro-Google FUD that I think leads people to believe only Google and maybe Microsoft are capable of sending mail any more.

Something like mailbox.org should be fine. Even a carefully-chosen VPS running your own email server should be fine (works for me, no delivery problems in ~2 years)

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#70

I spent the past month "de-Googling" my life after I saw a notice in my Gmail inbox that it was 20 years old. I took a step back and realized just how invested into the Google ecosystem I was. Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Drive, Maps, Keep, Photos, YouTube, FitBit, Android. Basically my entire digital life. My goal was more diversifying than security/privacy, but security/privacy is a really nice bonus. I ended up going wi…

I am also in the process of doing the same with Gmail to Proton. The process isn't really that painful and kind of fun, actually. Anytime I get an email on Gmail, I go and update it to point to my Proton email.
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