can anyone recommend a good email service?

[Omega 3 snake oil]

I want privacy, security, all that good stuff. Doesn't have to be free like gmail.

[Kevin Beal]

It depends on what you're looking for.

 

You can use throw away email services you can access through a proxy in your browser's private mode if you are, like planning to blow up the whitehouse or something. Haha. I've got the NSA after me now.

 

If you just want a reliable and private email, then I would (and do) just use gmail. Google gets a really bad rap (which I think is entirely undeserved), but as far as privacy goes, from what I hear, they take it super fucking seriously. They recently took a bunch of precautions to prevent the NSA from reading people's gmail content, which is a risky move on their part for the sake of their customers. A big middle finger to the NSA. And Google's one of the few companies who can actually pull that sort of thing off technologically.

[cynicist]

The only way to have true privacy and security is through encryption, but it's not convenient and most people don't understand it. I just use Gmail and treat everything I send as public. Kevin is right that Google does a good job of protecting against outside spying using encrypted sessions, but due to their business model it isn't going to be applied to messages as a default feature of their service. So no matter what they do, the government can always request or seize the information when they please. 

 

If I ever had to communicate something in absolute secrecy I'd either teach the other person how to use encryption (unlikely) or just meet them in person.

[dsayers]

You can use throw away email services you can access through a proxy in your browser's private mode if you are, like planning to blow up the whitehouse or something. Haha. I've got the NSA after me now.

 

You're such a rebel! Oh crap, now I'm an associate.

 

Thanks for that link. I had heard otherwise, but as hearsay.

[st434u]

I don't trust google for a second. It seems to me that starting up, they were so far ahead of the competition, and leaking so much red ink, that they probably had to have large secret subsidies coming from State organizations.

 

In any case, the targeted ads are super annoying, and they use every bit of information they can gather on you for that purpose, while other ad-based service providers don't, or don't do it as much.

[dsayers]

I call BS. I've been using ABP for awhile now. Before I did, it didn't matter where I went on the internet. ALL ads had to do with my immediate browsing history. Google has always been committed to non-obtrusive ads and I commend them both for that position and their adherence to it.

 

I'm not saying anything about Google in general, but I did want to challenge the suggestion that their ads service was some how obtrusive or even visible to those who do not wish to see it.

[st434u]

I've had ads targeted at me based on messages and emails I've sent and received, sometimes ones from several months in the past.

 

Also, you need to learn some manners. Blocked.

[Tony Crowe]

If you want to learn about email you could try running your own server. On Windows there's a good and free one called hMailServer. Then to keep your messages secure you could work with PGP on your email client.

 

And if you're really ambitious you could study the underlying protocols called SMTP, IMAP, and POP.

 

Are you technically apt?

[BlackHeron]

I'm looking for something to replace Gmail.

 

Not that Google is necessarily totally finished transforming to "evil" but they are big, and they are established, so they really can't fight the man when he comes and demands cooperation.  They've got too much to lose.  Roll over or die, as it were.

 

I'd like to find someone that did a Gmail-like small unobtrusive webmail that was easily integrated with PGP encryption.  It'd be great if they didn't have all the things that suck that Gmail has introduced over the last few years.  Best if it were some small off-shore firm that was starting up but wasn't about to go broke.  Strong enough to tell the NSA to shove it, while far enough away and small enough that the NSA wouldn't have them as a prime juicy target for a lot of easy data in one swell foop.

 

Not finding much, so I'm stuck with Gmail still..

[cynicist]

I'd like to find someone that did a Gmail-like small unobtrusive webmail that was easily integrated with PGP encryption.  It'd be great if they didn't have all the things that suck that Gmail has introduced over the last few years.  Best if it were some small off-shore firm that was starting up but wasn't about to go broke.  Strong enough to tell the NSA to shove it, while far enough away and small enough that the NSA wouldn't have them as a prime juicy target for a lot of easy data in one swell foop.

 

The best encryption is always client-side, since if the mail provider has your encryption keys it's no better than what Google does. The problem is that average users don't want to configure mail clients with encryption or have to manage keys. So the best possible security requires some technical knowledge, and would be worth teaching in the case of really sensitive documents or communication under very authoritarian governments, but the cost is not worth it in the US yet. Until then Google offers the second best option, which is encryption at the link level for traffic heading to their servers or from their servers. 

 

You won't see easy-to-use encryption at anything but the application layer if you want true security. As more revelations of government spying come forward we'll see more developers working in this area.

[cynicist]

Btw, this is what happens to companies that try to offer real protection to consumer e-mail.

[meta]

 

https://www.hushmail.com/

 

 

That looks good!Omega3 ,I don't know what you need exactly, but the cryptocat plug-in allows encryption chat.If you only need privacy from time to time to exchange special information , that could be enough, and it is free, it is not an e-mail service.

But I use in complement of gmail.I guess a vpn service would make everything you do (mailing, downloading and browsing) private, depndeing on the vpn provider.

But it doesnt encrypt mails.

[cynicist]

Here is a pretty awesome development. Google is working on a javascript implementation of OpenPGP encryption. In other words, you'll have easy to use encryption from a browser addon for Chrome that works with any webmail provider. It's not ready for public consumption yet but I can't wait to try it out myself when it is available.