Continued from Alternative Email 2.
This part looks at some other email providers that I did not discuss in the 'shortlist' in Alternative Email 2, alternative calendars, changing email, picking up email, other alternative internet possibilities, and finally a summary of alternative email providers discussed in part 2 on the criteria I outlined in part 1.
Other alternative email providers
I looked into Mailbox from Germany (their privacy email was launched in 2014 soon after the Snowden revelations) when I was investigating alternative email but I discounted it at that point. I think it was because (like Posteo) they recycled deleted email addresses (I believe), which seems a serious privacy/security issue to me, but I am not sure if they do that any more. At that point, the cheapest tier may have been too limited in storage but I don't think it is now. They are very recommended on privacy and green grounds (they say they use 100% green energy) but look less so on worker empowerment criteria. I think I may have not pursued them, in part, because the other options mentioned in part 2 seemed more interesting to me at that point and some less corporate. In short, if I had looked into them now they may have been more of interest to me than they seemed to me at that point.
Mailfence is a Belgian company launched in 1999. I dismissed Mailfence when I was first looking at alternative email providers, I think it was because it seemed expensive at the time, but I revisited it when writing this blog. I am a bit confused by this service as their website suggests they encrypt pretty much everything but online discussions suggest this is not the case, including the company's own comments in those discussions. I suspect their website is not technically inaccurate but is phrased to make them sound more encrypted than they are. Their privacy policy seems very short. They are on Mastodon. They say they use 100% green energy. Given accounts of them in the privacy community do not seem to match the impression their website seems to convey (to me) I have, as it stands, doubts, including about their transparency. There is a review of their mixed privacy credentials here.
Others I came across.
These are mostly privacy-based providers but some meet my other criteria, eg environmental ones.
Dutch Startmail with good encryption is recommended by many.
Swiss Kolab Now, is also quite green although it does not publicise it much; email is not encrypted at rest.
Ctemplar, also green, in Iceland.
Hushmail, Canadian.
Fastmail, Australian, privacy provider.
Countermail, Swedish, good on security/privacy, requires an invite to join.
Criptext: my web browser says there is now a security issue with their website so I could not access it.
Cyberfear.
Telios: a relatively new privacy email venture but seems to have now shut down.
Cotse: very little information about this lot
Elude: I think they may no longer exist.
Dismail, in Germany, but a one-person operation, not taking new users.
Cock, needs an invite.
Beeble.
Dutch Soverin privacy/security-focused email.
Activix: email and VPN for radical left activists, as with Riseup. Other than this they supply little information about themselves.
These are privacy/ethical alternatives that some recommend but I have not had the chance to properly checkout. Some of these may have been discontinued but I have left them listed here for the record and in case they make a comeback.
Calendars
Some of these providers I have discussed also provide more private and sometimes encrypted calendars. I use Posteo for my calendar and have used Runbox. I chose Posteo over Runbox in the end because of greater encryption of the calendar and because I use Runbox for email a lot and not putting all my eggs in one basket seemed a good idea.
Using Posteo or Runbox for calendars is a bit more complicated than using an Apple or Google calendar but not that difficult and Posteo have good guides on how to do it. The Runbox calendar is not encrypted at rest but others mentioned here are. This includes Proton and Tuta who have their own freestanding encrypted calendars that don't yet have all the bells and whistles, but they are developing and gaining them.
Changing email provider and picking up email
It's not difficult to switch email providers. You just set up an automatic reply on your old email telling people who email you your new email address and set up forwarding of email from your old provider to your new one. Some email providers also provide means of transferring your contacts and old email to them but I found the auto-reply and forwarding was enough for me. You need to change your email address with accounts you are signed up to which can be a big job but you can do this gradually over time as you get emails forwarded from them. I mostly did this in one go when I switched and it took 2 or 3 hours or so for the main places I was signed up to with email. Then there was a bit of later sweeping up now and then when some less important places where I had not changed my email address emailed my old address and it needed changing. So it can take a bit of time over a period, but it is easy to do.
If you like to use an app to pick up your email, like Outlook, there are alternatives. Apple Mail is generally seen to be quite good privacy-wise. But if you use Windows then Thunderbird is a privacy-respecting alternative. On Android phones lots of people like K9 (which has been taken over by Thunderbird) but as far as I can see FairEmail is the best in terms of privacy, run by a highly devoted developer. It looks quite daunting at first glance because of the huge number of features you can tweak and change. But it isn't really. You can just use it as it comes out of the box without making any of the changes available. All the providers I mention also provide webmail.
Alternative internet
There are lots of other areas where you can pursue the sorts of criteria I have outlined in looking for an alternative internet - eg VPNs, web browsers, search, social media, cloud storage, etc.
There are ways we can try to forge an ethical internet that is an alternative to big tech surveillance oligopolies.
1) Liberal government regulations on the internet, legislating for privacy etc.
2) Structural change like collective ownership of internet corporations whether of the state kind or more decentralised as with coops.
What this blog focuses on is two other approaches:
3) Collectives or individuals autonomously providing their own alternatives, as with the providers above.
4) People using different tools on the internet. I have outlined above some alternatives people can choose.
Here are some other possibilities, beyond email, for alternatives on the internet to exploitative surveillance big tech. These are just ones I have found and thought positive rather than a definitive guide. But I'd recommend them. Most are primarily privacy-oriented.
VPNs for protecting your privacy when browsing: IVPN is my first choice (combined with Hagezi's Pro tracking blocklist which you can easily add from within IVPN) and Mullvad second.
Web browser: Firefox (or versions of it like Mull for Android) with the uBlock Origin extension added. Or the Mullvad browser.
Alternative search engines that do not log your searches: eg Startpage and DuckDuckgo, but there are many others.
Mastodon: as an alternative to X and Facebook.
Pixelfed: as an alternative to Instagram.
Notesnook or Standard Notes: as alternatives to things like Google's Keep Notes or Evernote.
F-droid: as an alternative or supplement app store to Google Play.
Libre Office: a (free) alternative to Microsoft Office.
Mataroa (that this post is on), Bear, that Mataroa is based on, or Write.as - alternative blogging platforms to Wordpress, Substack etc.
Newpipe: as an alternative way into Youtube.
Cloud backups: Filen or Mega in place of Google Drive, Onedrive, etc.
Lemmy: in place of Reddit.
Lnk.bio: for link listing in social media bios, an ethical alternative to linktree.
I don't have space to go into these here (maybe for another blog) and these are personal choices. There are many other alternatives that others would recommend.
Summary of alternative email
Finally, here is a quick summary of email providers from part 2 I see as doing well, listed according to the criteria from part 1.
1) Privacy and anti-surveillance - all good but the most extensive encryption is with Proton, Tuta and to a slightly lesser extent Posteo and Riseup. Others, though, have good privacy policies.
2) Environmental and climate policies - Runbox, Posteo, Tuta, maybe Disroot.
3) Treatment of workers, and worker/volunteer empowerment - Runbox, Disroot, A/I, Riseup.
4) Respect for users - mostly fine but I have less positive experiences or reports on Proton, Tuta, and Posteo. I've had particularly positive experiences with Runbox.
5) Contributing to building a wider alternative internet: Disroot, Riseup, Proton (but all the alternatives are within its own company). Others like Posteo fund wider alternative internet.
And that's it. I've tried all of these providers. I'd like to use the most encrypted email but have reservations about the available providers of this for reasons mentioned in post 2. On the criteria I used, I have ended up using primarily Runbox and Disroot. If you have any feedback - email me!