5 ms·

Gmail is not free, you just pay in non-monetary terms. It's up to you to decide how you want to weight your priorities.

by SuperNinKenDo 8y ago

gcatalfamo 8y ago
Privacy is important, but money is a non negotiable priority if you don't have it.
- mikekchar 8y ago
  That's fair enough (and I am using gmail precisely because I have no way to pay another service provider -- banking while living in a country that you are not a permanent resident of is tricky). However, the entire thread is about what service should you use if you are worried about privacy.
  - scrollaway 8y ago
    Which country? Try Transferwise and/or revolut if they are available where you are.
    - mikekchar 8y ago
      Although available in Japan where I live, there is literally no way to transfer money out of my bank. You may think it odd, but getting a bank account in a foreign country is actually hard. The bank I use is not my choice, but the choice of my former employer -- that's how I got the account. When I set up my own consulting company, I ended up using the same bank. I'm trying get out of it. I have an account with an offshore bank, but going through the paperwork to actually deliver my pay cheque into it is rather daunting (even though I own the company that pays me!). It will be dramatically easier when I get permanent residence status (which I probably can get whenever I get around to applying for it -- and I should do it sooner rather than later). But anyway, there are other people in the same situation, where they literally can't pay for things online. I just wanted to indicate that I understood the situation. But thanks for the pointers. It looks pretty useful if I ever get in the situation where I could use it.
      - sumek83 8y ago
        And revolut? https://www.revolut.com/jp/?lang=en https://www.revolut.com/jp/?lang=en
        mikekchar 8y ago
        I would somehow have to get money into the account... It's the same problem all over again ;-) I suppose I could put the BTC that I mined heating my house when CPU mining was a thing in there...
- fwsgonzo 8y ago
  In a way that is a very sad thing. I am thinking of all the people who have no choice but to use everything free, and then be the product.
vbezhenar 8y ago
I don't understand how am I paying for Gmail. I never noticed any ads there (I know that there are ads, but it's hard to find them unless you're searching for them specifically), actually I'm rarely even using web interface and Gmail doesn't add any ads to IMAP-served mail. For me Gmail is absolutely free. May be it uses mail information to target ads for me, but I'm not even sure that I should consider that as a payment. I prefer targeted ads over untargeted ads anyway.

Gmail is not free, you just pay in non-monetary terms. It's up to you to decide how you want to weight your priorities.

gcatalfamo 8y ago

Privacy is important, but money is a non negotiable priority if you don't have it.

mikekchar 8y ago
That's fair enough (and I am using gmail precisely because I have no way to pay another service provider -- banking while living in a country that you are not a permanent resident of is tricky). However, the entire thread is about what service should you use if you are worried about privacy.
- scrollaway 8y ago
  Which country? Try Transferwise and/or revolut if they are available where you are.
  - mikekchar 8y ago
    Although available in Japan where I live, there is literally no way to transfer money out of my bank. You may think it odd, but getting a bank account in a foreign country is actually hard. The bank I use is not my choice, but the choice of my former employer -- that's how I got the account. When I set up my own consulting company, I ended up using the same bank. I'm trying get out of it. I have an account with an offshore bank, but going through the paperwork to actually deliver my pay cheque into it is rather daunting (even though I own the company that pays me!). It will be dramatically easier when I get permanent residence status (which I probably can get whenever I get around to applying for it -- and I should do it sooner rather than later). But anyway, there are other people in the same situation, where they literally can't pay for things online. I just wanted to indicate that I understood the situation. But thanks for the pointers. It looks pretty useful if I ever get in the situation where I could use it.
    - sumek83 8y ago
      And revolut? https://www.revolut.com/jp/?lang=en https://www.revolut.com/jp/?lang=en
      - mikekchar 8y ago
        I would somehow have to get money into the account... It's the same problem all over again ;-) I suppose I could put the BTC that I mined heating my house when CPU mining was a thing in there...
fwsgonzo 8y ago
In a way that is a very sad thing. I am thinking of all the people who have no choice but to use everything free, and then be the product.

vbezhenar 8y ago

I don't understand how am I paying for Gmail. I never noticed any ads there (I know that there are ads, but it's hard to find them unless you're searching for them specifically), actually I'm rarely even using web interface and Gmail doesn't add any ads to IMAP-served mail. For me Gmail is absolutely free. May be it uses mail information to target ads for me, but I'm not even sure that I should consider that as a payment. I prefer targeted ads over untargeted ads anyway.