Those of you who liked the suggestion from Monday’s post to get rid of your Gmail account may be wondering how to do that. Realistically, if you want an account that isn’t harvesting your data, you’re going to have to pay a small amount for it.
Everyone’s favorite alternative to Gmail seems to be Fastmail. It’s similar in look and feel to Gmail and there are apps for your tablet and smartphone but it comes without the spying. The price ranges from \$3 to \$9 a month mostly depending on how much storage you want.
Recently, I stumbled upon another mail service, Mailfence, that looks promising. If you’re extra paranoid it might be a better fit than Fastmail. For one thing, they are located in Belgium, which has very strict data privacy laws that make it hard for even judges to get at your data. For another, they offer browser based end-to-end encryption so that no one but you and the recipient can read your email. Of course, that requires that your correspondent also support a PGP capable mail reader so the encryption is optional and you can still email your Aunt Millie.
Their prices are comparable to Fastmail’s. They’re priced in Euros but at the time I’m writing this the monthly charge is between \$2.78 and \$27.75. Take a look at their Website to see what you get with the various plans.
As most of you know, I use mu4e to read my mail from my Apple Mail account. Apple’s email is arguably an exception to the “have to pay to be exempt from spying” rule but I do pay a nominal charge for storage some of which is used for email. In any event, that means that I haven’t personally used Fastmail or Mailfence so I’m depending on what others have said, reviews, and their Websites. Caveat Emptor.