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I have no activity on YouTube, Blogger, or any other Google service since they tied up all the accounts, just to minimize the chance of getting my Gmail chopped

I have no activity on YouTube, Blogger, or any other Google service since they tied up all the accounts, just to minimize the chance of getting my Gmail chopped off. (Note to self: stop giving feedback on Maps routing. You never know.)

hunter-gatherer 5y ago
In a past job I was frequently around the globe and was not able to have my phone and SMS always with me. No matter how many settings I tweaked, it just seemed that google would not let me get into my gmail without my phone. Of course my banks would not let me in without my email. Ultimately I had to "de google" for the sake of being able to use the needed internet services wherever there was internet. When so much is tied to email these days, paying for a service that at least has a phone number to call if something goes wrong seems worth it to me, especially since most paid email services are reasonably priced.
Dylovell 5y ago
Man, That's dark. "You went to X location a few years ago, now there's bad stuff happening there. Your google account is banned." Leave your phone at home if your are going to protest, no matter what or where you are protesting.
- adolph 5y ago
  Eh, eventually they’ll cut you off for not attending the good protests. Better off expecting to be cut off and redundantify your dependencies.
- m-p-3 5y ago
  I have a low-end Android phone that has no Google account tied to it, and all apps are exclusively downloaded through F-Droid. Briar* is a great app to communicate securely, even during an Internet blackout over Bluetooth. * https://briarproject.org/ https://briarproject.org/
mastazi 5y ago
I'm sure you already know, but setting up your own myname@mydomain.tld and then setting that up in Gmail[1][2] means that in a catastrophic scenario (your Gmail is closed) you don't lose your email address. In addition to that, you should frequently take a backup of your Gmail emails[3], then in case your account is locked you can use the exported mbox[4] archive, and import it in Thunderbird, this works reasonably[5] well, e.g. recently I had to find an airline ticket from 10 years ago which I had originally received in Gmail, and it took just a few seconds to find it in Thunderbird. [1] https://support.google.com/mail/answer/21289?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform=Desktop https://support.google.com/mail/answer/21289?hl=en&co=GENIE.... [2] https://support.google.com/mail/answer/22370?hl=en https://support.google.com/mail/answer/22370?hl=en [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Takeout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Takeout [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbox [5] Thunderbird's search is not as good as Gmail's, but not bad either, I find it does the job for me.
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  Or just use Zoho. It's free to link your own domain ($1/mo if you want IMAP access) and they have actual support. I have contacted them in the past about a bug with their DKIM implementation (or really, the UI) and they sorted it out manually on the spot.
  - mastazi 5y ago
    This was in case OP didn't want to give up Gmail straight away. Of course you can just migrate to another provider, or, as in my case, spin up your own mailinabox[1] instance. That way the only provider you have to deal with is the cloud provider for your VPS, and in the remote case my account was terminated, it would be very easy to switch to a different provider (because Mailinabox includes functionality to do automated backups to an external location). [1] https://mailinabox.email/ https://mailinabox.email/
    - AussieWog93 5y ago
      I've thought about doing this myself, but apparently it's a lot of work to get right. I read from others who tried it that a lot of their mail would be caught by spam filters and they didn't necessarily know why.

hunter-gatherer 5y ago

In a past job I was frequently around the globe and was not able to have my phone and SMS always with me. No matter how many settings I tweaked, it just seemed that google would not let me get into my gmail without my phone. Of course my banks would not let me in without my email. Ultimately I had to "de google" for the sake of being able to use the needed internet services wherever there was internet. When so much is tied to email these days, paying for a service that at least has a phone number to call if something goes wrong seems worth it to me, especially since most paid email services are reasonably priced.

Dylovell 5y ago

Man, That's dark. "You went to X location a few years ago, now there's bad stuff happening there. Your google account is banned." Leave your phone at home if your are going to protest, no matter what or where you are protesting.

adolph 5y ago
Eh, eventually they’ll cut you off for not attending the good protests. Better off expecting to be cut off and redundantify your dependencies.
m-p-3 5y ago
I have a low-end Android phone that has no Google account tied to it, and all apps are exclusively downloaded through F-Droid. Briar* is a great app to communicate securely, even during an Internet blackout over Bluetooth. * https://briarproject.org/ https://briarproject.org/

mastazi 5y ago

I'm sure you already know, but setting up your own myname@mydomain.tld and then setting that up in Gmail[1][2] means that in a catastrophic scenario (your Gmail is closed) you don't lose your email address. In addition to that, you should frequently take a backup of your Gmail emails[3], then in case your account is locked you can use the exported mbox[4] archive, and import it in Thunderbird, this works reasonably[5] well, e.g. recently I had to find an airline ticket from 10 years ago which I had originally received in Gmail, and it took just a few seconds to find it in Thunderbird. [1] https://support.google.com/mail/answer/21289?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform=Desktop https://support.google.com/mail/answer/21289?hl=en&co=GENIE.... [2] https://support.google.com/mail/answer/22370?hl=en https://support.google.com/mail/answer/22370?hl=en [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Takeout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Takeout [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbox [5] Thunderbird's search is not as good as Gmail's, but not bad either, I find it does the job for me.

AussieWog93 5y ago
Or just use Zoho. It's free to link your own domain ($1/mo if you want IMAP access) and they have actual support. I have contacted them in the past about a bug with their DKIM implementation (or really, the UI) and they sorted it out manually on the spot.
- mastazi 5y ago
  This was in case OP didn't want to give up Gmail straight away. Of course you can just migrate to another provider, or, as in my case, spin up your own mailinabox[1] instance. That way the only provider you have to deal with is the cloud provider for your VPS, and in the remote case my account was terminated, it would be very easy to switch to a different provider (because Mailinabox includes functionality to do automated backups to an external location). [1] https://mailinabox.email/ https://mailinabox.email/
  - AussieWog93 5y ago
    I've thought about doing this myself, but apparently it's a lot of work to get right. I read from others who tried it that a lot of their mail would be caught by spam filters and they didn't necessarily know why.