Gmail and Google alternative

[Atlantis]

I have finally deactivated my facebook account. It was getting annoying how people were giving threats to be removed as a friend if I did not share their post. It is bad enough that how much data is shared to these third party agencies.

So, my topic is about does anyone know if i can use a google and gmail alternative because this happened recently.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...ing-email-inbox-privacy-scandal-a8548941.html

 

[Overmind One]

I have finally deactivated my facebook account. It was getting annoying how people were giving threats to be removed as a friend if I did not share their post. It is bad enough that how much data is shared to these third party agencies.

So, my topic is about does anyone know if i can use a google and gmail alternative because this happened recently.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...ing-email-inbox-privacy-scandal-a8548941.html

This is a conundrum. I myself have debated the need for a Gmail account, and my only excuse has been "convenience". When it comes to email, you pretty much have to choose a 3rd party email service like Microsoft Office 365, Gmail, Yahoo, or other third party email service. There ARE other options, but you will sacrifice some convenience. Here are some:

1. Buy a domain and hosting space on Hostgator. Even if you never put up a website, you get unlimited emails on your domain with webmail and the ability to use Outlook.

Pro: You control your email, and no third parties can view it.
Con: You will lose an integrated calendar, tasks.
Fixes: You can install calendaring easily with CALDAV, but you need some tech expertise to set it up (YouTube has resources). medium skill level required

2. Run your own email server (Postfix/Apache)

Pro: You get 100% control. No third parties
Con: If you lose internet at home, you lose the ability to access or receive or send email. Your computer will always be listening for new messages, and you need to know how to filter mail, manage the email server and run patches or fixes as necessary. Advanced skills required.
Fixes: None, really

There are other ways to do this, but you need to decide exactly what level of control you need/want first. Once you have that, your options are narrowed and you can make a better decision based upon your needs.

You can look at these too:

https://beebom.com/gmail-alternatives/

 

[Lord Ba'al]

I'm not sure what your question is really @Chevron Atlantis. You are looking for an alternative to Facebook? What exactly is it you want to keep doing but without Facebook?

Congrats on the move by the way! I "deleted" my Facebook profile yeaaars ago and I've always been happy with that decision.

 

[PussyGalore]

I have finally deactivated my facebook account. It was getting annoying how people were giving threats to be removed as a friend if I did not share their post.

I'm not critiquing you Chevron as much as I'm commenting on society in general here. I can't wrap my mind around this mentality of threatening people with social ostracism if they don't cave into one's demands. Friends don't threaten each other. No one needs "friends" that attempt to bully them into redistributing social media nonsense. If a genuine friend bullies, blackmails or threatens your continued participation in said friendship then they are disrespectful and are not a friend to begin with. You're better off without them in your life. And if we're talking about social media acquaintances threatening to remove you from their list of contacts then let them do so. In fact, I'd facilitate that "unfriending" by doing it to them first.

 

[Overmind One]

hahaha....

What's funny? I have done all of those things. The email for GateFans is not on Gmail or any third party (well, Hostgator).

 

[Atlantis]

I'm not sure what your question is really @Chevron Atlantis. You are looking for an alternative to Facebook? What exactly is it you want to keep doing but without Facebook?

Congrats on the move by the way! I "deleted" my Facebook profile yeaaars ago and I've always been happy with that decision.

I thought the question is quite clear in the thread title where I am looking for alternatives to google and gmail.

I am not looking for alternatives to facebook but it was an opening statement

 

[Lord Ba'al]

I thought the question is quite clear in the thread title where I am looking for alternatives to google and gmail.

I am not looking for alternatives to facebook but it was an opening statement

I see. Well it was confusing to me because the title was talking about Google and then your post was talking about having quit Facebook. Anyway...

If you're looking for an alternative to the Google search engine I would venture a guess that it's because you do not want anyone to track your search history. If that is the case I would recommend DuckDuckGo as they have privacy of their users up high. It would take you getting used to the search results because honestly they won't be as good as Google's search results, but you'd feel good about supporting DuckDuckGo I guess. If this is the reason you don't want to use Google then I would recommend also getting rid of Google Chrome if that's what you're using as there's no telling as to what kind of data Google might be able to collect from you when you're using Chrome, even if you're using a different search engine. That might even include data from all other websites you visit aside from search engines. I'm using Opera these days. Not sure why though. I think it came recommended by DuckDuckGo. I've been a Firefox user for a long time but just wanted to try something new. So far I'm not disappointed.

 

[Overmind One]

Once this legislation passes, even your US traffic will be now diverted across aus and then encryption will be rendered useless. VPNs useless and all the data will be subjected to hacking/trojans and other malicious things installed onto people's computers without their consent and the onus will be on you to prove that it wasn't you. Linux distro useless. Fun, fun, fun...With this and article 13, the entire world internet is going to collapse. Both parties are in favour of this because they are too idiotic to understand computers and have been paid. So think again if you think that what happens elsewhere isn't going to have an effect over in the US of A.
Your bullshit rights mean nothing. These people are savages and they'll use brutal force and break the law and so called rights if they have to if it's what they want. You are the property of the corporation not an individual. You and I are slaves to the corporation for life.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/...ce-laws-draw-international-criticism/10300170

The bolded is nonsense. Encryption is encryption, and if you do not use packaged encryption like Bitlocker (Windows) or Filevault (Apple), and choose an independent method like Trucrypt or PGP or a myriad of other 128-bit AES or TKIP forms, then NOBODY is going to be able to crack it. As far as traffic being diverted and trojans and all that other bullshit you are saying will happen, that is nonsense too. I have to call it out for what it is.

 

[Overmind One]

All these services are just too good to be true. None of them delete them. They just hide them from you but they use that for their own purposes and aiding their interested parties. They store all searches because to them it's insurance. It's like any centre that you ring up and they say, your call maybe recorded for coaching and assurance purposes. The fact is that the connection still took place at what time/date of the API data that comes with the connection.

Fact is, the DNS server stores everything. Duckduckgo is just to give people the illusion of privacy. It's run by Yahoo ffs - one of the biggest leakers on the planet. You are going to trust them?

Okay, there is something to this. The search engines DO cache search terms, they run metrics on them and get a gauge of what people are interested in. Google uses the search terms and even regionalizes them in order to get an idea of what groups of people are thinking and paying attention to. They can aggregate this data and sell it to interested parties. But this does not translate into control or being able to pinpoint individual people.

 

[Overmind One]

I see. Well it was confusing to me because the title was talking about Google and then your post was talking about having quit Facebook. Anyway...

If you're looking for an alternative to the Google search engine I would venture a guess that it's because you do not want anyone to track your search history. If that is the case I would recommend DuckDuckGo as they have privacy of their users up high. It would take you getting used to the search results because honestly they won't be as good as Google's search results, but you'd feel good about supporting DuckDuckGo I guess. If this is the reason you don't want to use Google then I would recommend also getting rid of Google Chrome if that's what you're using as there's no telling as to what kind of data Google might be able to collect from you when you're using Chrome, even if you're using a different search engine. That might even include data from all other websites you visit aside from search engines. I'm using Opera these days. Not sure why though. I think it came recommended by DuckDuckGo. I've been a Firefox user for a long time but just wanted to try something new. So far I'm not disappointed.

Google Chrome has lots of obfuscated functions, like continuing to run in the background even when closed (by default). At least they give you the ability to turn off the background processes and they do a good job of disclosing what they are doing in their EULA and on the Chrome website. They even tell you how to turn things off. The sad truth is that most people just do not care enough to take time to secure their personal data from Google and other sites. I like DuckDuckGo a lot, and I use it in Linux.

 

[Joelist]

Yahoo does not own DuckDuckGo...in fact Yahoo itself is in the process of going away most of it was bought by Verizon who have been gradually absorbing the parts they want into their own structures.

 

[Joelist]

For free secure email (versus unsecured like Yahoo and its ilk) there is a choice of vendors. For example https://protonmail.com is fairly well known in the secure email world.

 

[Overmind One]

Read the article and see what the legislation does then come back to me to comment. I have done my own research and this legislation is rushed and vague meaning that it can be severely exploited and will be.


https://www.zdnet.com/article/austr...roups-unite-to-fight-encryption-busting-bill/

Well, I'll be damned...

But you need to know, this sort of thing is ONLY happening for you in Australia. If you really let it sink in what they are doing, they want to make USING encryption illegal in your country. That is because the government cannot monitor or snoop on you or invade your computer if it is encrypted. That will never happen in the United States. Here, our government "hopes" you will use encryption methods provided by manufacturers and only bother to use free HTTPS encryption certificates issued by certificate authorities (because those methods have skeleton keys that the government can access if needed). They quietly attacked and killed Truecrypt in terms of availability, but there are several repositories containing the last (and best) version of Truecrypt 7a which they cannot access. There are also other encryption methods available which cannot be accessed by governments. You can still create powerful self-signed certificates for websites, even though the latest browsers will scare surfers coming to sites using them with warnings that they are unsafe, etc.

I apologize for saying your claims were nonsense. But this is only happening in Australia, and not in America or the EU or even the UK. Americans would never allow much of what is already a reality in the UK. Your country has disarmed the citizens, and now wants to pass anti-encryption laws? Time to move, bro! Those are the harbingers of a soon-to-be totalitarian government.

 

[Overmind One]

What goes around, comes around. I know it maybe just in Australia, but this thing is like an infection. It will eventually makes its way into your borders as news travels fast, and when politicians are paid a fuck load of money, literally, anything can be passed without your consent. It's like how the piratebay is blocked here but can be accessed simply by changing the DNS to the open DNS offered. They waste tax payer's money to go the federal court every 3-4 months to block a whole list of sites for nothing.

I love the freedom of the internet, but some people want to take that away from us because they feel the need that we are a threat somehow. I like to keep this thread technology related and have probably slightly crossed the line, but this is as far as I go when it comes to politics. Relocate? Where? lol.

Wow, I have been doing more research on Australian government and internet communications. What the hell are they up to? Normally, I can connect the dots by just seeing where they are focusing energies on. This attack on encryption tells me that they NEED to have full and complete access to everyone's computers and internet activity in Australia. Why would a government attack encryption? Encryption protects the END USER, and it does not consider a courtesy backdoor for the government. Its like having a locked safe at home that you are required to also give the combination to your government. WHY?

No wonder you feel the way you do....

 

[Overmind One]

Apparently it's the usual remark of fighting crime lol. They need to break encryption to get tougher on crime.
They now can download/store your phone details too. Even NZ is doing it.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/nz-customs-can-now-demand-phone-or-laptop-passwords/
This is mainly about knowing the private side and they want total control/so you don't try to be a smart ass and change the world for better.

Are there legal penalties for people who encrypt their systems using their own programs?

 

[Atlantis]

All this does is create a world where people are scared and it is scary how there might not be such a thing as an individual's privacy.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

Maybe governments just agreed among themselves that they wish to go down this road but think they can't all just go ahead and do it so they will use a "western" country with a smaller population as a trial market, just like game developers sometimes do.