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Ask HN: Is Fastmail any better than Gmail on locking people out?
I have just been planning to register for a fastmail account. However, when I went to their terms of service page, I found this - "The Service Provider may terminate your access to any part or all of the Service and any related service(s) at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately, for any reason whatsoever, with or without providing any refund of any payments."
Given that email is a very important service, and that we often hear people being locked out of their Gmail accounts by Google, I don't see how fastmail is better here. Are they considered better just for the lack of a precedent, even though they too reserve the same power with them?
- greenyoda 9y agoFastMail gets money from me, so I can't imagine why they'd want to terminate my account for anything short of spamming or illegal activity. If something happens (e.g., your account gets hacked), they have customer support people who you can actually reach, and ways you can convince them that you're the account owner. They compete against free services, and the only reason they can survive as a paid service is by maintaining a reputation for good customer service. Screwing over users for no reason would instantly kill their reputation, so they have a strong incentive not to do it.
- enriquto 9y agoEven if you partake in illegal activity, I do not see why they would want to terminate your account. If I engage in illegal activity, I fully expect the police to come arrest me, and to be judged later by a fair trial. Having the electricity company or the mail service to terminate my services is terrifyingly dystopian.
- enriquto 9y agoI am now considering moving from gmail to fastmail just for this fear, and it is surprising that a paid service includes these harsh terms in the contract.
- enitihas 9y agoI am in the same situation. Reading those terms of service makes me feel fastmail is no better either. Are you considering some other service too? I am considering proton mail as it says they will terminate an account only because of illegal activity. I would love to know of other good options as well. Considering how fundamental the email service is in this digital age, it is surprising there are so few choices.
- enriquto 9y agokolabnow has reasonable terms (termination needs no justification, but must be announced at least 30 days prior) yet, it is much more expensive and the service seems of lower quality (in particular, not clear how to transfer the bulk of gmail stuff, and how to use my own domain name).