Basically what the title says, I don't want to host my own server but I would like to move away from Google. I'm fine paying a monthly fee for a service that will respect my privacy. Any recs are appreciated!

  • Chump [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I know you said no servers, but I still recommend picking up a ds120j from synology. They're dead simple to set up, you can host your own calendar, run a huge dropbox-like experience, back up your photos with a tap, and never leave your stuff on someone else's database. They're like $80 or something.

    • femboi [they/them, she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I've looked into self-hosting before, but my main worry is that I'm going to mess up backups and then if something happens to my house I'll be screwed. I guess if there was a product suite that had a easy-to-configure cloud backup with some cloud service I'd consider it

      • MattsAlt [comrade/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        You can use the free Veeam product to set up automated backups of the Synology and tier them off to a cloud location, depending on the box you get you may be able to install windows and a Veeam server on it or you may need to put it on an actual host

        https://www.veeam.com/downloads.html?hvt=free&ad=menu-products

  • ancom20 [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Some paid services that looked good for email privacy when I looked before (at least with regards to ads/profiting from user-data) were Countermail, myKolab (firm that supports open-source mail software development Kolab), StartMail, Tutanota, ProtonMail. Note that any email operator can access your messages, that's why it's important to encrypt them with GPG. Mail-headers may also not be anonymous, and could disclose IP addresses. See if your provider supports STARTTLS. An alternative to GPG for email encryption (but more centralized) is S/MIME. The founder of Lavabit started an email-like service called DarkMail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_encryption. If you're sending/receiving unencrypted emails to GMail users, however, GMail obviously gets a copy of the message and your email address.

    • femboi [they/them, she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Thanks, I vaguely remember hearing that they had some issues with encryption but if the apps are easy to use its got to be better than using gmail and google calendar