Why?
Your email provider can be anywhere on the planet.
Off planet is a bit trickier.
The e-mail I'd love to keep is with the ISP who is regional and doesn't serve the area we will be moving to.
Say we have internet with (fictional) Midwestern Cable and our email address is myname@midwesterncable (dot) net and we move to the southeast, outside of Midwestern Cable's service area. We lose that e-mail when we cancel the account.
Have you asked your ISP if there is a way to keep your email address? After I left mine (moved), I still received emails sent to my old address. I wouldn’t think it would cost them anything to keep your email live. Maybe they’ll allow you to keep it for a very small fee.
I have not but it's something I've made a note to ask about when we finally call to cancel service. I don't want to do it now because every time I talk to them, they mess something up on the bill.
IMO a huge service provider like Google already knows too much, so I don't care to share my email with them too. Even if the email content is encrypted much is revealed by its meta data. Since info is exposed by online activity, I'd rather it divided amongst various service providers such that the data is not all in the hands of one.
Regarding a "trusted service provider" you have to decide what attributes qualify for your trust. I judge that by a provder's website, their apparent size (IMO non-huge is better), how long they've been around, etc.
I agree about Google. Why make it easier for them to fill their files on me?
I've made a note of the trusted provider tips. Thanks.
1. Nothing is private. The NSA hoovers up everything.
2. Having your own domain means never having to change your email address.
3. Use a POP account and your emails will not remain on the server.
4. Don't save sensitive info in emails if you are paranoid. Save that info in encrypted form on your PC.
#1 doesn't bother me, actually. It probably should, but it doesn't.
#2 it sounds very appealing just from a coolness factor, if for no other reason
#3 I think our ISP is POP, come to think of it (this is more DH's area than mine)
#4 I don't save sensitive stuff such as those aforementioned notices of statements being ready, etc. I don't know if I'd say that I'm paranoid, though, just more like really ticked about all this data mining and hacking.
Thanks for the ideas.
If somebody knows I have a Vanguard account, what good does it do them? Vanguard has millions of customers. I'm just one of them. True, they can see that a transaction was for XXXX dollars when VG notifies me of such. That is good for me to see in case someone has hacked the VG account. So they maybe can tell how big a fish I am from that transaction email. But my house is on Zillow and they could easily infer I am not a pauper. The bad guys still need account numbers, passwords, etc. etc.
I guess the best thing I can think to do is to not have too much email left after reading it. So delete notices and maybe even go into the trash and delete it so it doesn't sit for 30 days. I use gmail too but don't do the early trash removal.
I don't get any of this stuff in the US mail except a few things like utilities. All the financial stuff goes to the gmail account.
I guess I was just thinking more of these metadata files and hackers having a complete file on me for nefarious purposes. "Them" knowing where I may have money and who I bank with is creepy, whether "them" is Google, Facebook, Yahoo, or some hacker getting a huge file of financial websites to try hacking passwords.
We only get junk mail in the mailbox these days, so that's taken care of and I purge files in case of hacking my accounts, so I guess that's the best I can do, eh?
My take away from all of your posts and tips is that I'm overly cautious about this, that I'm already doing what is sensible, and that I should take a chill pill. DH will be thrilled.
Thank you everyone!!
