Re: [Paddlewise] Sad News.......................Barbara Tomita

From: Rich Kulawiec <rsk_at_rockandwater.net>
Date: Thu, 29 May 2014 20:01:51 -0400
On Thu, May 29, 2014 at 01:21:08PM -0700, Mark Sanders wrote:
> I told Barb, that's what she gets for using AOL! 

Point of order: AOL is not the worst freemail provider out there,
although it *has* degradedly markedly since they laid off their
entire senior postmaster team a few years ago.  That "honor" belongs
jointly to Yahoo and Hotmail, who I award an "F" grade simply because
no lower one is available.  Gmail is marginally better but seems
insistent on making "improvements" that are not any such thing but
actually thinly-veiled attempts to pry loose more user data.

If you're serious about email, do NOT use a freemail provider.  Either
set up your own domain and mailserver, or if you don't have the technical
skills for that, use a paid service run by competent people.  I think
highly of Panix, Sonic, Hushmail, and Fastmail.  (Disclosure: I'm a
Panix customer, albeit for hosting, not email.)

None of that insulates you from scams like the above, of course:
if you have a weak password or if your desktop/laptop/tablet/phone
is compromised, then you're screwed no matter who hosts your email.
But it does insulate you from the persistent, systemic incompetence
of freemail providers *and* it offers marginal privacy improvement.

---rsk
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Received on Thu May 29 2014 - 17:03:37 PDT

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