Posteo
For what is worth, I love Posteo, having tried over 20 other providers. IMAP compatibility is a must for me, which automatically excluded Proton and Tuta. I guess different people value different things in an email provider, Posteo's privacy policy, reliability and feature set work perfectly for my needs.
wuseman
No, I am going to stick with Posteo. The list of my past email providers:
- Yahoo (Yikes!)
- Gmail
- Hotmail
- Fastmail
- Runbox
- KolabNow
- Novo-ordo (another yikes)
- Mailbox.org
- Neomailbox
- Disroot
- Countermail (still using occasionally)
- RiseUp (still using, good, not great)
- Proton
- Tuta
- Autistici
- YANDEX
- Abv.bg (Christ!)
- Ctemplar (for about a week)
- Comcast (yeah, I know)
- Danwin1210
- iCloud
So I am all but exhausted of switching : )
What about Mailbox.org? They have an option to automatically decrypt the mailbox (including all incoming emails and the sent folder) with your public PGP key, which essentially is the same thing thing that Protonmail does.
Protonmail requires you to use their apps on mobile, and their "bridge" on desktop to use it with a normal email client. And their web client uses Javascript to decrypt the emails in the browser.
Mailbox.org on the other hand allows you to use any email client that supports PGP (e.g. K-9 Mail + OpenKeychain on Android, Thunderbird or KMail on Desktop) to download the encrypted emails and locally decrypt them on your device, and for the web client they are compatible with the Mailvelope extension to decrypt your emails in the browser.
I kind of prefer Mailbox.org's approach as it is more "open" with no requirement to use their app. Protonmail on the other hand is all set up out of the box with no thinking and tinkering needed. I think if Proton would offer their bridge for Android, I would prefer them but until then I'm leaning towards Mailbox.org because of their openness.
What made you switch away from Mailbox.org, Proton and Tuta?
Actually, I kind of liked both Proton and Tuta, but no real IMAP killed them for me. Mailbox.org has no more privacy than Fastmail, meaning pretty much none at all. They have extensive list of "DON'Ts" and are very cozy with the feds. They don't really take any meaningful steps to minimize data retention. In my opinion Mailbox.org doesn't bring anything to the table.
AlanZ They have extensive list of "DON'Ts" and are very cozy with the feds.
Can you elaborate on that please?
AlanZ
I have used deep breath:
- Autistici
- Ctemplar
- Criptext (Shut down quite recently without a word)
- Cyberfear (Abandonware)
- Disroot (Still using this one for some websites)
- Gmail
- Hotmail/Outlook (Still using this one for work)
- ISP email
- Icloud
- Murena
- my.com
- Opera Mail
- Posteo
- Privacy Harbor
- Proton Mail (My primary email atm)
- Riseup
- Skiff (I hate this service with a passion)
- Telios (I hate this one too, they went dark for months and then broke the news that they were shutting down... on Discord)
- Tuta
- Yandex
I see little to no reason to choose anything but Proton atm.
From Mailbox.org's T&C:
"When you register on our internet pages, the IP address assigned by your internet service provider (ISP) as well as the date and time of the registration are stored. This data is stored because this is the only way to prevent misuse of our services and, if necessary, to enable us to investigate criminal offences committed. [...] This data will fundamentally not be shared with third parties unless required by law or for the purpose of criminal prosecution."
"...or present a judicial warrant that asks for the release of mailbox contents and data logs, or order the surveillance of the user's telecommunications data."
the storage or the dispatch of pornographic material as defined in Sections 184-184c of the German Criminal Code (StGB) or of media listed in Section 24 Paragraph 1 of the Youth Protection Act (JuSchG) as being harmful to minors.
the storage or the dispatch of image, video, audio, text or other files in contravention of copyrights, trademark rights, name rights, competition rights or personal rights or of files which contain prohibited propaganda material or designators of unconstitutional organisations (Sections 86 and 86a of the German Criminal Code [StGB]).
AlanZ the storage or the dispatch of pornographic material as defined in Sections 184-184c of the German Criminal Code (StGB) or of media listed in Section 24 Paragraph 1 of the Youth Protection Act (JuSchG) as being harmful to minors.
the storage or the dispatch of image, video, audio, text or other files in contravention of copyrights, trademark rights, name rights, competition rights or personal rights or of files which contain prohibited propaganda material or designators of unconstitutional organisations (Sections 86 and 86a of the German Criminal Code [StGB]).
Wow, so they do read your mails in other words.
Just be happy that they didn't mention par. 188 StGB yet (Criticism of politicians is verboten, and yes they actually send the police to your house for calling MPs "dumb" or "fat")