|
Because I don't want the hassle of storing emails with a provider who isn't giving me the impression they'll stick around for many years to come ; I don't want the hassle of having to change email addresses regularly ... And with any smaller provider competing against the "big guns" (Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo, maybe I should include AOL, Mail.ru and Zoho ?) the risk is that the initiative is idealistic and full of enthousiasm but that after a short while there are problems to keep the service running. Lavabit for sure won't be the only idealistic service who experienced that it's hard to compete out there and survive without solid long term business plan.
The political side of a provider doesn't bother me ; first of all few people receiving an email will look up the political ideals of the provider, most won't pay attention to that. Secondly, it's not a crime to express your political ideals.
What bothers me with any such initiatives (Posteo, Protonmail, Autistici, ...) is : what gives me the impression the service won't be short-lived?
I've tried many smaller providers the last 15 years. Except Safe-Mail, all those accounts I've lost because the service was too unstable or simply ceased to exist. Safe-Mail has been the one exception (and EUMX but that doesn't really count since it's not a free provider, even though they have gift accounts for forum members).
The hassle of losing stored emails, having to notify all my contacts and friends of once again changing email address, is quite unpleasant.
|