Purge Gmail before Gmail Purges You
Would you be wiling to forward me all your email? Can I have the password to your Gmail account so that I can read all your email you have ever sent or send in the future?
If you use Gmail for your email you have already answered YES to both of those questions. By using Gmail you have given Google unlimited authority to read, forward, mine and use your email in any way they see fit. And Google is not just a faceless company, it is a company that is filled with employees that believe you should only think in their way, and if you have independent thoughts you should be censored and silenced.
Are you ready to have your email shadow banned like your social media? That email from a newsletter Google doesn’t like will never make it’s way to your in-box. Trying to sign up for a new social media service and Google doesn’t like that kind of freedom, they will block that confirm email with the sign-up confirmation from your inbox. The soft shadow ban will mean you don’t even know what you are being censored from.
After that, are you ready to be banned and locked out from your own email forever? Abandoned with no way to access a lifetime’s worth of correspondences with your family, about your finances and no access to communicate with your loved ones? Your contacts erased, your calendar destroyed? Because the same people that have deplatformed you for not thinking as Google wants you to think is in control of your email access.
Knowing everything we know today and the authoritarian actions of the tech oligarchs to control you and your thinking, I ask you…. Why are you using Gmail for your most important communications? Or for that matter Yahoo, or Outlook, or any other “free” email where you have traded your freedom for their censorship.
When the reality is you don’t have to. Unlike Facebook, or Twitter, email is an open standard, a federated model. It was invented before the tech oligarchs wrapped their tentacles around the internet to suffocate its freedom. You can use anyone to host your email, you could even host it yourself (beyond the scope of this article, but if you are interested see Mailpile)
The two best known providers of un-censored, freedom and privacy respecting email services are Fastmail and ProtonMail. I currently use them both and can say that they are fantastic. Fastmail tends to appeal to the casual user who cares about ease of use and their UI is better than anyone, even Gmail. Protonmail tends to appeal to those more concerned about security. Both are excellent options and easy to port your Gmail over and easy to use.
They cost next to nothing… Fastmail starts at $5 per month! Protonmail starts around $7 per month!
I understand switching email is a pain, you need to tell everyone your new email, etc etc. But isn’t your privacy and freedom worth the effort.
Now that you realize you need to make a change, these posts will show you how in this post:
Move to a new email provider
I strongly suggest you do this now, because once Google decides that too many people are leaving their clutches, they will remove the ability to do this to trap you, like they and the other tech giants do with everything, they change the rules and make you beholden. Turn the tables on them, Purge Gmail!
Q&A
- I have years of archived email, will I lose access to that? NO. You can export your entire Gmail archive of old mails and import them into your new service, it is like you were using your new service from the start
- What about my contact, will I lose them? NO. You can also export from Gmail all your contacts and import into your new service.
- I like to use a specific app on my phone to get email and calendar, will I still be able to? There are open standards that existed long before Google and the other tried to wall off the internet, and your app most likely supports them, so you can continue to use your favorite app. Even the GMail app on Android allows you to!
- Will I still get my email form people that don’t know I have switched? YES. You will setup Gmail to auto-forward all your email to your new service. This way you have uninterrupted access to your email until everyone switches over to use your new email address.
- How will everyone know I have switched? For web sites and things you subscribe to this is easy, just go to your profile or settings and change your email. Honestly this can be very therapeutic because you realize how many web sites have your email you wished did not. For your personal contacts you can send a mass email, or just make a signature at the bottom of your emails that you have a new address. You will find this is easier than you think.
- What should I do with my old Gmail? Use is as your burner account to send junk. Any website that requires an email to use their service but you don’t want to get bombarded with their spam.. give them your old email. Once you turn off the forwarding on Gmail these will go into a black hole. You get two benefits for the price of one.. privacy and spam reduction!