Quote:
Originally Posted by RFK
Technically, Yandex is very good email service. Practically, you do not want to use email provider which is under jurisdiction of authoritarian (and, in many aspects, totalitarian) state as Russian Federation. You do not know how your emails will be affected and how they will be used by this state. I do not want to discuss it here, but it may be really dangerous even if you do nothing that violates your country's law or Russian law.
In addition, considering current relations between Putin's regime and the West, you have a chance to see your mailbox lost/deleted/blocked etc as result of political developments and economic sanctions imposed on Russia.
Another point: Russian authoritarian state wants to control everything. At some point they may require you to upload your national ID card or passport or your email account will be limited/blocked. Do you really want it?
I know what I am talking about, I have some friends in Russia, I understand the logic of Russian authorities (as former citizen of former USSR) and I really do not recommend to use any of Russian services (not only email).
This post applies also to mail.ru: great email service but, unfortunately, should not be used for political reasons.
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Do you trust the political and legal systems of other "western" countries entirely?
Because, if the answer is "no, they're flawed too", then avoid Gmail, Hotmail, Facebook, Twitter etc too at all costs.
I see where you're coming from, but I think one who is not involved in active political groups, don't have to worry that much where their email service is located. I am sometimes over-anxious and over-paranoid myself, but people often told me I worry a bit too much, and in some cases they're right. This is one of those cases I think. What one should really worry about when choosing an email account, is the stability and reliability and security. Not the location of the provider's offices. Unless the person is really so anxious that it makes it impossible for him to enjoy using his email service (I experienced several times myself that rational thinking doesn't always overcome anxiety ; I got a bit too much experience with that even
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I believe the person opening this topic was afraid of a sort of new "Iron Curtain" which would make his email unreachable at some point.
While nothing impossible in theory, I think the odds of that happening are quite low.
a) Yandex have offices in the EU, so if there would ever be a blocking of Russian services by the EU, Yandex can easily bypass this issue with their offices in the EU.
b) it would surprise me that the EU would start censoring services from
any country, it'd go totally against all principles the EU is built upon.
My guess would be that, unless one is involved in politics, (s)he has nothing to fear, regardless where the email provider of choice is located.
If the OP is still too worried though, he could always go for a provider in the EU itself just for the sake of having peace of mind.