this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2024
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Technology

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US Email Providers - Other then Google, MS, Apple, ... (beehaw.org)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by furrowsofar@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
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I need to change ISPs and need to find a new email provider. This time I want to move to my own domain which I purchased through Namecheap and I do not want to use another ISP's email system nor do I want to use Google, or Microsoft since I am Linux (and Android too) based. I would like this to be US based or at least have a strong US presence so obvious choices like Proton Mail, Mailfence, and Mailbox.org are out. I would prefer it interoperate well with FOSS software too, I use Thunderbird and K-9 Mail for example. Also so want them to be trustworthy, have good security, and have good OpSec with respect to their their servers and service.

After looking I find three I am considering and they are quite different:

  • Fastmail. Long history. No PGP support but they do have their own domains one can use also.
  • Namecheap Private Email. Uses Ox App Suite, may support PGP, and quite new. I think you have to have your own domain (not sure).
  • Forward Email (forwardemail.net). A forwarder with IMAP support. You supply the webmail if you want webmail, but otherwise it should work fine with IMAP and normal clients.

So questions:

  • Any thoughts and experience, pros and cons with the above 3.
  • Other better ideas.

So thoughts? Thanks.

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[–] corruptian@mastodon.cloud 4 points 3 months ago (3 children)

@furrowsofar

Run your own goddamn email server. Don't trust these big fat companies.

[–] tal 22 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I would advise against this.

I am all about running things yourself, run most stuff myself, but email is just a nightmare these days with all the anti-spam stuff out there.

Go ask at !selfhosted@lemmy.world. They'll tell you the same thing. Lots of hassle, lots of potential pitfalls.

[–] corruptian@mastodon.cloud 1 points 3 months ago

@tal

Maybe they're just incompetent

[–] Estebiu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Email in itself is an outdated protocol. Even if you're selfhosting it, and have the best opsec practices; if the other person uses gmail then you're fucked anyway.

[–] tal 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Not having mandatory security is a legit issue, but there isn't a drop-in replacement that does, not in 2024. You're gonna need widespread support, support for file transfer, federated operation, resistance to abuse, client software on many platforms, etc.

And email security is way down the list of things that I'd be concerned about. At least with email, you've got PGP-based security. If you're worried about other people's mail providers attacking mail you send them, that's getting into "do you trust certificate authorities to grant certificates" territory, because most secure protocols are dependent upon trusting that.

Like, XMPP with OTR is maybe a real option for messaging, but that's not email.

EDIT: Not to mention that XMPP doesn't mandate security either.

[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 1 points 3 months ago

Security is getting better on the transport side.

[–] corruptian@mastodon.cloud 1 points 3 months ago

@Estebiu

Then again, it's useful to filter out the gmail zombies.

[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 4 points 3 months ago

Thanks. Like the sentiment. Yes I can do this but my wife cannot. So this option is out. It needs to be a solution that she can maintain alone if something happens to me. This concern gets a lot more real as one gets older.