Our email addresses are not only important for contact and receiving information. We need them for almost anything that requires any online sign up such as shopping accounts and social media. As a result, they have become a fundamental aspect of our online identities; which makes what some email providers do aggravating. Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo are known to “read” the contents of your email and share that information with advertisers; they are also guilty of collecting more information that is necessary.
That’s why its important to use a provider or service that protects your privacy from others and stays out of your business. If you want to make your email as private and secure as possible, then you need to use the right providers or tools that aim to protect it. Here are 7 ways:
Note: I wrote about email providers in previous Substack and on my blog. If you would like to read them, click on the following buttons.
1.) Proton Mail
Celebrating their ten-year anniversary this year, Proton Mail is an email provider that supports secure and private emails. Based in Switzerland, they adhere to Swiss privacy laws, which are some of the strongest in the world. With Proton, they encrypt all emails, meaning that they cannot read the contents of them, though the subject line is not encrypted. One of my favorite features is that they strip any trackers, so you open an email knowing that it is clean. Free accounts are available, though to get the most out of Proton, you will need to pay for a subscription plan. What’s cool about Proton is that in addition to mail, they offer Calendar, Drive, VPN, and most recently, Pass, which is their password manager. You can check out this review to learn more about them.
2.) Tuta (formerly Tutanota)
Another private and secure email provider that is located in Germany and covered by the country's privacy laws, which are strong as well. They encrypt all aspects of emails, including the subject line, unlike Proton. Included with their mail, they have a calendar and contacts. They too have a free account, but to get the most, you will need to upgrade to a subscription plan. Note: Recently, Tuta was accused of being a “front” for law enforcement and intelligence services, something that Tuta has furiously denied. You can read more about that here.
3.) Skiff
A relative newcomer, they too aim to be a private and secure email provider. Created in 2020, their original goal was to be a replacement for Google Docs, but they have since covered email, calendars, and files. Unlike the other email providers mentioned, Skiff is based in the U.S., which has very weak privacy laws, but since they support encryption on all their features, data cannot be accessed. You can create a free account, but as said before, to get the most, you will need to pay up. Note: Skiff was purchased by Notion, as announced on February 9th. You can read more about that here.
4.) SimpleLogin
Bought by Proton in 2022, SimpleLogin is an email alias service. Email aliases act as email addresses, but they differ in that aliases need to be attached to a main email address. This means you can have multiple aliases for various things, and they will all come through your main email. This also ensures that your main email address is protected as the alias is being used. One of the perks of using SimpleLogin is that they now benefit from being protected by Swiss privacy laws as of January 1st, 2024. You can create a free account and create up to six aliases, but you will need to pay for a subscription to get unlimited.
5.) DuckDuckGo Email Protection
Known for providing a search engine that is more private than Google or Bing, DuckDuckGo released its own email alias service in 2022. It’s basically similar to SimpleLogin, as you create an email alias (called Duck addresses), and emails you receive with the alias will be forwarded to your main email address. What’s cool with Duck addresses is that they will strip any tracking features that are enabled in the email before it gets forward to your main, which is similar to what Proton does. Though it was launched over a year ago, it still says that it is in beta, so some issues might come up. Note: From what I found, it doesn’t appear that DuckDuckGo supports encryption of emails. However, they do say that they do not save any content from the emails. To learn more, I suggest you read their privacy policy.
6.) Firefox Relay
Created by Mozilla, the same organization that is responsible for the Firefox browser, Firefox Relay is an email and phone masking service. This allows you to protect your email and phone from receiving spam and junk calls. Email masking is essentially an email alias. However, what’s unique about Relay is that it also covers phones, which is something that nobody else on this list covers (though SimpleLogin hopes in the near future to cover them). They have a free plan, but again, to get the most protection and if you want phone masking, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan. Note: According to their privacy policy, it does not encrypt your emails. While they say that they do not read or store the content for more than three days, something that Google does, that is something of which you should be aware. You can read their privacy policy here.
7.) PreVeil
If you do not wish to change to a new email provider or create an email alias, then you will be interested in PreVeil. It is a free email encryption tool that works with your current email. It basically does what Proton or Tuta do, but works with your current email address(s) and does not require you to create a new one. It is compatible with most free email providers, such as Gmail and Outlook, so you should have no issues. It is free, but they do have paid plans that offer features such as more storage. To learn more, check out their website and this review.
What do you think? Will you be using any of these tools? Or do you know any others that you would like to share? Let me know in the comments!
Until Next Time!
Monique 📧
Additional Links:
https://www.techradar.com/news/duckduckgo-in-hot-water-over-hidden-tracking-agreement-with-microsoft
https://kinsta.com/blog/secure-email-providers/
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