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Before anyone does anything too rash, have a look at NeoMailbox.net[1]. It's secure offshore email hosting in Switzerland, and it is excellent. A true Gmail alt

Before anyone does anything too rash, have a look at NeoMailbox.net[1]. It's secure offshore email hosting in Switzerland, and it is excellent. A true Gmail alternative for powerusers who value their privacy. [1] http://www.neomailbox.net http://www.neomailbox.net Q: Why does Fastmail get free advertising on HN? Their servers are on US soil. I think it's a fair question to ask, esp. when there are better alternatives like NeoMailbox and Runbox.

trebor 13y ago
Wow, NeoMailbox is pretty expensive for the family plan. How is it better when it's 50% higher priced?
- contextual 13y ago
  I guess our priorities are different. I place a high value on my communications with family, friends and business partners. People who communicate with me know I value their privacy. A ciascuno la sua.
  - trebor 13y ago
    You can value their privacy all you want, but so long as your email crosses a US, UK, or US-cooperating border your messages aren't safe. And I doubt RC4 over TLS, which most connections are, is enough to stop the NSA for more than a few seconds. And even with PGP your metadata, which is what they want anyway to establish probable cause, is revealed anywhere your message goes. Good luck keeping your email private! I wish we could, I really do. I'm in the US and need to economize as much as possible. I already have hosting but dislike their email services. I can't afford to pay ~$175/year for email alone, in addition to my personal web hosting costs.
nodata 13y ago
Got a demo/screenshot of the webmail interface?
- contextual 13y ago
  All I can find are screenshots of their old web interface. They've made a lot of improvements recently; better customer support, a much faster server, and while the interface isn't 'purdy', it's better. More upgrades are on the way too, I've been told.
D9u 13y ago
I definitely don't speak for anyone but myself... However, some of us have been using Fastmail for several years, as even before Opera took over, Fastmail was a mobile friendly service, pre iPhone era, so we like this service regardless of their physical location. Powerusers who value their privacy will have already taken steps to encrypt their communications before sending into the wild. Then there are those whose accounts are free because they joined up back when free accounts were available to all; those accounts are still free! <(;-)
michael_h 13y ago
That seems like a poorly thought out service that might lull a normal user into thinking that their email is actually secure. It sounds like they encrypt the email between their servers and the client. Great. Your email is flying around the internet unencrypted (most likely through the US, mind) and it's stored on their servers unencrypted, yes?
- contextual 13y ago
  NoMailbox has built-in encryption functionality. It's one of the many features and options in the new web interface. To be clear, I'm just a satisfied customer. Using NeoMailbox gives me peace of mind. It's the best option I've found, and that's after months of testing many different paid and free email services.
  - michael_h 13y ago
    Using NeoMailbox gives me peace of mind This is essentially what I'm talking about. It probably shouldn't give you peace of mind. You click an 'Encrypt' button on a web interface and it encrypts it and sends it off. I presume that you can go into your 'Sent Items' and look at that email's contents even though you've encrypted it, yes? So it's either sitting there unencrypted on the server or they have the keys.
    - contextual 13y ago
      It's PGP sign/encrypt email with a passphrase option. There's also an option to read receipt. Look, I'm not the sales department and I'm not going to hold your hand. Please, do your own homework.
      - michael_h 13y ago
        While I appreciate the condescencion, their website says "We use OpenPGP" and doesn't specify how you can decrypt a message using their webmail client without storing (or sending) your keys on their server. If there is a workable solution to that, I'm genuinely curious about it. I'm sure they're a lovely email provider, but when they emphasize 'Secure Email' the onus is on them to prove that their secure system isn't a series of wishes and 'trust us'.
tobiasu 13y ago
BULLSHIT. Yes it has to be said this strongly. These guys are reading your mail: https://www.li.admin.ch/en/index.html https://www.li.admin.ch/en/index.html Random sample from heise news: http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/9/9462/1.html http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/9/9462/1.html http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Big-Brother-Awards-Schweiz-Onyx-zum-zweiten-49387.html http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Big-Brother-Awards-Sc... http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Online-Durchsuchung-und-praeventive-TK-ueberwachung-in-der-Schweiz-geplant-165224.html http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Online-Durchsuchung-u... http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Bericht-Datensammlung-des-Schweizer-Geheimdiensts-ist-nicht-gesetzeskonform-1032240.html http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Bericht-Datensammlung... http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Neuausrichtung-der-Kommunikationsueberwachung-in-der-Schweiz-1964768.html http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Neuausrichtung-der-Ko... If you can't read German laws and news (or whatever language the jurisdiction in question uses), you can not make an informed decision on these matters.
- contextual 13y ago
  Who said I can't read German? My mother is German. Besides, I trust the Germans a lot more than I trust the US government.
  - tobiasu 13y ago
    What has your mother to do with this? Have you read Swiss laws on the subject? Have you followed the news about Swiss email surveillance? You can't go around promoting a service based on a countries privacy laws, when those laws are ineffective against the intelligence agencies the users seek protection from. To give just one example: The German Bundesnachrichtendienstgesetz simply exempt the BND from entire sections of the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz. The BND says they are respecting the law. What they don't say is that there is nothing left to respect.

trebor 13y ago

Wow, NeoMailbox is pretty expensive for the family plan. How is it better when it's 50% higher priced?

contextual 13y ago
I guess our priorities are different. I place a high value on my communications with family, friends and business partners. People who communicate with me know I value their privacy. A ciascuno la sua.
- trebor 13y ago
  You can value their privacy all you want, but so long as your email crosses a US, UK, or US-cooperating border your messages aren't safe. And I doubt RC4 over TLS, which most connections are, is enough to stop the NSA for more than a few seconds. And even with PGP your metadata, which is what they want anyway to establish probable cause, is revealed anywhere your message goes. Good luck keeping your email private! I wish we could, I really do. I'm in the US and need to economize as much as possible. I already have hosting but dislike their email services. I can't afford to pay ~$175/year for email alone, in addition to my personal web hosting costs.

nodata 13y ago

Got a demo/screenshot of the webmail interface?

contextual 13y ago
All I can find are screenshots of their old web interface. They've made a lot of improvements recently; better customer support, a much faster server, and while the interface isn't 'purdy', it's better. More upgrades are on the way too, I've been told.

D9u 13y ago

I definitely don't speak for anyone but myself... However, some of us have been using Fastmail for several years, as even before Opera took over, Fastmail was a mobile friendly service, pre iPhone era, so we like this service regardless of their physical location. Powerusers who value their privacy will have already taken steps to encrypt their communications before sending into the wild. Then there are those whose accounts are free because they joined up back when free accounts were available to all; those accounts are still free! <(;-)

michael_h 13y ago

That seems like a poorly thought out service that might lull a normal user into thinking that their email is actually secure. It sounds like they encrypt the email between their servers and the client. Great. Your email is flying around the internet unencrypted (most likely through the US, mind) and it's stored on their servers unencrypted, yes?

contextual 13y ago
NoMailbox has built-in encryption functionality. It's one of the many features and options in the new web interface. To be clear, I'm just a satisfied customer. Using NeoMailbox gives me peace of mind. It's the best option I've found, and that's after months of testing many different paid and free email services.
- michael_h 13y ago
  Using NeoMailbox gives me peace of mind This is essentially what I'm talking about. It probably shouldn't give you peace of mind. You click an 'Encrypt' button on a web interface and it encrypts it and sends it off. I presume that you can go into your 'Sent Items' and look at that email's contents even though you've encrypted it, yes? So it's either sitting there unencrypted on the server or they have the keys.
  - contextual 13y ago
    It's PGP sign/encrypt email with a passphrase option. There's also an option to read receipt. Look, I'm not the sales department and I'm not going to hold your hand. Please, do your own homework.
    - michael_h 13y ago
      While I appreciate the condescencion, their website says "We use OpenPGP" and doesn't specify how you can decrypt a message using their webmail client without storing (or sending) your keys on their server. If there is a workable solution to that, I'm genuinely curious about it. I'm sure they're a lovely email provider, but when they emphasize 'Secure Email' the onus is on them to prove that their secure system isn't a series of wishes and 'trust us'.

tobiasu 13y ago

BULLSHIT. Yes it has to be said this strongly. These guys are reading your mail: https://www.li.admin.ch/en/index.html https://www.li.admin.ch/en/index.html Random sample from heise news: http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/9/9462/1.html http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/9/9462/1.html http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Big-Brother-Awards-Schweiz-Onyx-zum-zweiten-49387.html http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Big-Brother-Awards-Sc... http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Online-Durchsuchung-und-praeventive-TK-ueberwachung-in-der-Schweiz-geplant-165224.html http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Online-Durchsuchung-u... http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Bericht-Datensammlung-des-Schweizer-Geheimdiensts-ist-nicht-gesetzeskonform-1032240.html http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Bericht-Datensammlung... http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Neuausrichtung-der-Kommunikationsueberwachung-in-der-Schweiz-1964768.html http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Neuausrichtung-der-Ko... If you can't read German laws and news (or whatever language the jurisdiction in question uses), you can not make an informed decision on these matters.

contextual 13y ago
Who said I can't read German? My mother is German. Besides, I trust the Germans a lot more than I trust the US government.
- tobiasu 13y ago
  What has your mother to do with this? Have you read Swiss laws on the subject? Have you followed the news about Swiss email surveillance? You can't go around promoting a service based on a countries privacy laws, when those laws are ineffective against the intelligence agencies the users seek protection from. To give just one example: The German Bundesnachrichtendienstgesetz simply exempt the BND from entire sections of the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz. The BND says they are respecting the law. What they don't say is that there is nothing left to respect.