AWS EC2 nodes are fairly cheap, and I like them for a lot of things, but there's also a whole range of virtual host providers like http://www.asmallorange.com/h

AWS EC2 nodes are fairly cheap, and I like them for a lot of things, but there's also a whole range of virtual host providers like http://www.asmallorange.com/hosting/shared/ http://www.asmallorange.com/hosting/shared/ who provide Linux-based shared hosting with a GUI to set up email, web etc. services. That'll avoid Google reading your email. On the other hand, if you're worried about the FBI reading your email, you probably need to either run your own mailserver or run PGP. Preferably both. There's an OpenPGP plugin (Enigmail) available for Thunderbird, works well enough. (usual disclaimer: just a satisfied customer, etc)