Posteo.de

holden · 12 Apr 2014, 05:12 AM

Hi guys.

One more person looking for an (affordable) paid email service, to stop being a product instead of a customer.
So i bumped into posteo.de. I like the whole privacy, green energy and roundcube webmail thing. It's also affordable (currently) since i'm unemployed at the moment and have scarce income.
But, since i lost two mail providers in two years, i'm wondering, is, in your opinion, posteo going to stay here for a long time? is it viable?

I was also checking out Runbox, and while i could afford the micro package, it offers 1GB of space. The interface, despite being/looking outdated, seems professional and it's easy to find my way around.

And the third option would be buying a domain (i can get it for app. 10$) with my last name in it, and registering the domain on Zoho free 5GB account. Zoho also seems very professional, but would like to know how do they stand on privacy and how stable as a company are they?

Thankful in advance.

LinuxArie · 12 Apr 2014, 05:40 AM

Posteo.de exist for almost 5 years https://posteo.de/site/ueber_posteo
I don't think they will stop in the nearby future

north · 12 Apr 2014, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LinuxArie

Posteo.de exist for almost 5 years https://posteo.de/site/ueber_posteo
I don't think they will stop in the nearby future

lavabit existed more then five years too...

@holden: check this threads / posts:

1. http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=68327
(first post gives an good overview of secure emailproviders, but read the whole thread... posteo.de (and mailbox.org too) has a background in the political left wing scene. you should know this.)

2. http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=68314

3. http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=67451

holden · 12 Apr 2014, 07:54 PM

Thanks!

The whole leftwing issue does not bother me, otherwise the whole green&opensource webmail thing wouldn't appeal to me at all

It's quite a selling point.

One more thing, this one about Zoho. As i understand, i can import a domain there, and take a free account, which offers me 5gb mail + 5gb files. Does that mean that files + mail = 5gb, or it's 5gb each? + Are there security compromises there, since you're not a paying customer?

Lavaboom · 14 Apr 2014, 07:17 PM

Hey we're super biased - Lavaboom.com is going into private beta this week. It's going to be the most secure email provider available to the public. We built it in tribute to Lavabit which closed down in August 2013.

It's free to use up to 500mb after that we have pretty reasonable premium plans.

Hit us up anytime at @lavaboomhq or reply to us on here.

-Bill, Lavaboom

north · 15 Apr 2014, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lavaboom

Hey we're super biased - Lavaboom.com is going into private beta this week. It's going to be the most secure email provider available to the public. We built it in tribute to Lavabit which closed down in August 2013.

It's free to use up to 500mb after that we have pretty reasonable premium plans.

Hit us up anytime at @lavaboomhq or reply to us on here.

-Bill, Lavaboom

aha. german based lavabit? owners lastname "mueller-iron" sounds like "domscheit-berg" (who is/was active in the left-wing scene too and his openleaks-project was dead from the first day it startet). i am not sure if "a freshly baked BA student in European Studies" have the skills for doing a service like lavabit that is based in germany / europe! i personally think that this is just another hipster-hyped try to implement a service that will die sooner or later.

"It's going to be the most secure email provider available to the public."

Code:

Looking for TLS extensions on https://lavaboom.me

ext 65281 (renegotiation info, length=1)
ext 00035 (session ticket, length=0)
ext 00015 (heartbeat, length=1) <-- Your server supports heartbeat. Bug is possible when linking against
OpenSSL 1.0.1f or older. Let me check.
Actively checking if CVE-2014-0160 works: Your server appears to be patched against this bug.

Checking your certificate
Certificate is valid before 0day. <-- Your stuff may be compromised. Consider changing the certificate and passwords.

Franko753 · 7 May 2014, 03:27 PM

I have moved with my emails to Posteo and so far, all is fine. Advantage over my old Fastmail:
- strips IP in send mail and server logs
- delete logs after 7 days
- more storage than Fastmail and still cheaper
- calendar (not in beta but working)
- encrypted data storage

Some people put them into the left-wing corner however, where is that exactly? A bit lefty or extreme lefty? The only hint they give is that they support a German site (http://blog.freiheitstattangst.de/aufruf-2013/) which promotes protest rallies for better privacy protection and a free internet. For example, German Green party, Reporters Without Borders, Chaos Computer Club and Attac Germany are supporters as well. What is the intention to spread such a message without giving better background information? And why should I be concerned with a company which supports data privacy? Oh yes, I am concerned because that is why I moved to Posteo. I asked Fastmail what they do about my privacy and didn't receive a satisfying answer.

More info on email provider's privacy is here:
http://prxbx.com/email/

Posteo has posted a transparency report and states that in 2013, they had only 7 request from authorities to provide information on users and in only one case they had to obey due to ruling by court.

So far the only downside for me: English web based service doesn't work well. I am fine with German but not the rest of my family. However, I only used it to set-up and get it running. Now we use eM client and K7.

I hope that helps, though my post comes a bit late.

north · 7 May 2014, 11:36 PM

you should better check this page: http://blog.freiheitstattangst.de/bundnispartner-2013/

many of the listed organisations are connected with the militant left wing scene. for example: "gruene jugend" is still supporting "rote hilfe". if you are into german language you should also check this links:

1. http://goo.gl/WCINoM (rote h ilfe)
2. http://goo.gl/0exAca (german newspaper)

Jacinto · 8 May 2014, 04:46 PM

When I used to frequent drinking establishments, there were two taboo subjects: politics and religion.

I believe those taboos should be respected in this forum as well.

If Franko is happy with posteo.de, who are we to second guess him or castigate him for political reasons -- this is not the place.

Happy Friday to all.

--
Jacinto

**ReuvenNY** · 8 May 2014, 08:22 PM

Reminder - please confine yourself to email, not politics...

north · 8 May 2014, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReuvenNY

Reminder - please confine yourself to email, not politics...

sure. i thought it is maybe interesting for some guys...
i do not say that this provider is bad, i do only give information about the background and not not score in on or another direction.

Franko753 · 9 May 2014, 09:52 AM

ReuvenNY, that is fine with me. However, I am concerned that you leave posts which allege that some (small) providers are left-wing oriented while I cannot find posts in which the (right-wing) political agenda of the big shots like Google and Microsoft are discussed (I do not refer to spying here). I have found posts of north where s/he puts providers in a left-wing political corner and also uses politically motivated names for EU. All I claim is (political) fairness. These allegations are imho unfair and biased. Otherwise this forum might look to some politically oriented, although you do not want this. I might be wrong. I just present here my impression as a new user. OK, now you can delete this post.

**ReuvenNY** · 9 May 2014, 10:29 AM

Discussing ALL aspects of email service providers is OK.
Getting into discussion about political views of various political groups is not.

I know it's a thin line, but with a little effort and care the distinction could be managed.

Please continue discussing email and not moderating actions.

DavidJ · 13 May 2014, 02:14 AM

Hi!

1. The free service at Zoho using a zoho.com username is VERY stable. I have not tried their hosted email service.

2. "Privacy" can be a difficult term to handle. If you mean 'How is their SSL?" it works perfectly, and I suppose that it is as secure as any other. If you are worried about government spying, they are registered in the United States, which means that all of the new laws making it difficult for ESPs to challenge government requests for user information presumably apply to them. On the other hand, there are probably many countries where government agencies can get user information even more easily.

The fact that they have no advertising at all, even on the free products, probably means that they are less likely than some ESPs to routinely scan your email and keep the results. If they have less information about your interests, it would be harder for them to sell information to others. (Of course, any ESP with a server-side search function, which probably includes almost any webmail provider, has the technology to scan your emails already in place. That is what server-side search means.)

If you tell us what your privacy concerns are, we can probably answer more precisely.

Good luck.
David.

Tsunami · 15 May 2014, 11:16 PM

Microsoft's right-wing agenda?

Except emails provided by political parties to their own members, I've never seen an email service that would be so overtly left or right wing that I'd hesitate to use it. I think some people worry a bit too much about this ; most people you'd email with would probably not even know what type of organisation the email address belongs to. And even if they did: it's not a crime or so to use such email addresses.

But it still puzzles me why so many people focus on total privacy, but then has no one ever realised that the moment you email someone using Gmail or Hotmail or Yahoo, you could just as well use them yourself? Email privacy, if existing at all, only works if both sender and receiver use a highly protected service. If you post a letter in a place where nobody would ever check the content, but the receiver lives in a place where office workers have to do so, then the content is no longer private and using the special "safe" sending method has been useless.

You can, if you have the knowledge (I don't and it can be very complex, I've seen with friends), create your own intranet network. Either that, or convince all your email friends to ditch their familiar email account and move to a highly secured provider too. The moment you email someone who uses Gmail or so, your own effords become a bit useless too ...

12 Apr 2014, 05:12 AM	#1
holden Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 12	Posteo.de Hi guys. One more person looking for an (affordable) paid email service, to stop being a product instead of a customer. So i bumped into posteo.de. I like the whole privacy, green energy and roundcube webmail thing. It's also affordable (currently) since i'm unemployed at the moment and have scarce income. But, since i lost two mail providers in two years, i'm wondering, is, in your opinion, posteo going to stay here for a long time? is it viable? I was also checking out Runbox, and while i could afford the micro package, it offers 1GB of space. The interface, despite being/looking outdated, seems professional and it's easy to find my way around. And the third option would be buying a domain (i can get it for app. 10$) with my last name in it, and registering the domain on Zoho free 5GB account. Zoho also seems very professional, but would like to know how do they stand on privacy and how stable as a company are they? Thankful in advance.

14 Apr 2014, 07:17 PM	#5
Lavaboom Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 1	Accessible encrypted email coming in April Hey we're super biased - Lavaboom.com is going into private beta this week. It's going to be the most secure email provider available to the public. We built it in tribute to Lavabit which closed down in August 2013. It's free to use up to 500mb after that we have pretty reasonable premium plans. Hit us up anytime at @lavaboomhq or reply to us on here. -Bill, Lavaboom

7 May 2014, 03:27 PM	#7
Franko753 Junior Member Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13	Posteo I have moved with my emails to Posteo and so far, all is fine. Advantage over my old Fastmail: - strips IP in send mail and server logs - delete logs after 7 days - more storage than Fastmail and still cheaper - calendar (not in beta but working) - encrypted data storage Some people put them into the left-wing corner however, where is that exactly? A bit lefty or extreme lefty? The only hint they give is that they support a German site (http://blog.freiheitstattangst.de/aufruf-2013/) which promotes protest rallies for better privacy protection and a free internet. For example, German Green party, Reporters Without Borders, Chaos Computer Club and Attac Germany are supporters as well. What is the intention to spread such a message without giving better background information? And why should I be concerned with a company which supports data privacy? Oh yes, I am concerned because that is why I moved to Posteo. I asked Fastmail what they do about my privacy and didn't receive a satisfying answer. More info on email provider's privacy is here: http://prxbx.com/email/ Posteo has posted a transparency report and states that in 2013, they had only 7 request from authorities to provide information on users and in only one case they had to obey due to ruling by court. So far the only downside for me: English web based service doesn't work well. I am fine with German but not the rest of my family. However, I only used it to set-up and get it running. Now we use eM client and K7. I hope that helps, though my post comes a bit late.

8 May 2014, 08:22 PM	#10
ReuvenNY Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: New York Posts: 4,259	Moderator's comment Reminder - please confine yourself to email, not politics...

9 May 2014, 10:29 AM	#13
ReuvenNY Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: New York Posts: 4,259	Moderator's comment Discussing ALL aspects of email service providers is OK. Getting into discussion about political views of various political groups is not. I know it's a thin line, but with a little effort and care the distinction could be managed. Please continue discussing email and not moderating actions.

12 Apr 2014, 05:40 AM	#2
LinuxArie Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 69	Posteo.de exist for almost 5 years https://posteo.de/site/ueber_posteo I don't think they will stop in the nearby future

12 Apr 2014, 07:54 PM	#4
holden Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 12	Thanks! The whole leftwing issue does not bother me, otherwise the whole green&opensource webmail thing wouldn't appeal to me at all It's quite a selling point. One more thing, this one about Zoho. As i understand, i can import a domain there, and take a free account, which offers me 5gb mail + 5gb files. Does that mean that files + mail = 5gb, or it's 5gb each? + Are there security compromises there, since you're not a paying customer?

7 May 2014, 11:36 PM	#8
north Senior Member Join Date: May 2012 Location: north Posts: 174	you should better check this page: http://blog.freiheitstattangst.de/bundnispartner-2013/ many of the listed organisations are connected with the militant left wing scene. for example: "gruene jugend" is still supporting "rote hilfe". if you are into german language you should also check this links: 1. http://goo.gl/WCINoM (rote h ilfe) 2. http://goo.gl/0exAca (german newspaper)

8 May 2014, 04:46 PM	#9
Jacinto Essential Contributor Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 395	When I used to frequent drinking establishments, there were two taboo subjects: politics and religion. I believe those taboos should be respected in this forum as well. If Franko is happy with posteo.de, who are we to second guess him or castigate him for political reasons -- this is not the place. Happy Friday to all. -- Jacinto

9 May 2014, 09:52 AM	#12
Franko753 Junior Member Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13	ReuvenNY, that is fine with me. However, I am concerned that you leave posts which allege that some (small) providers are left-wing oriented while I cannot find posts in which the (right-wing) political agenda of the big shots like Google and Microsoft are discussed (I do not refer to spying here). I have found posts of north where s/he puts providers in a left-wing political corner and also uses politically motivated names for EU. All I claim is (political) fairness. These allegations are imho unfair and biased. Otherwise this forum might look to some politically oriented, although you do not want this. I might be wrong. I just present here my impression as a new user. OK, now you can delete this post.

13 May 2014, 02:14 AM	#14
DavidJ Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 178	Hi! 1. The free service at Zoho using a zoho.com username is VERY stable. I have not tried their hosted email service. 2. "Privacy" can be a difficult term to handle. If you mean 'How is their SSL?" it works perfectly, and I suppose that it is as secure as any other. If you are worried about government spying, they are registered in the United States, which means that all of the new laws making it difficult for ESPs to challenge government requests for user information presumably apply to them. On the other hand, there are probably many countries where government agencies can get user information even more easily. The fact that they have no advertising at all, even on the free products, probably means that they are less likely than some ESPs to routinely scan your email and keep the results. If they have less information about your interests, it would be harder for them to sell information to others. (Of course, any ESP with a server-side search function, which probably includes almost any webmail provider, has the technology to scan your emails already in place. That is what server-side search means.) If you tell us what your privacy concerns are, we can probably answer more precisely. Good luck. David. Last edited by DavidJ : 13 May 2014 at 02:19 AM. Reason: Adding parenthetical remark.

15 May 2014, 11:16 PM	#15
Tsunami The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: in between the bright lights and the far unlit unknown Posts: 2,341	Microsoft's right-wing agenda? Except emails provided by political parties to their own members, I've never seen an email service that would be so overtly left or right wing that I'd hesitate to use it. I think some people worry a bit too much about this ; most people you'd email with would probably not even know what type of organisation the email address belongs to. And even if they did: it's not a crime or so to use such email addresses. But it still puzzles me why so many people focus on total privacy, but then has no one ever realised that the moment you email someone using Gmail or Hotmail or Yahoo, you could just as well use them yourself? Email privacy, if existing at all, only works if both sender and receiver use a highly protected service. If you post a letter in a place where nobody would ever check the content, but the receiver lives in a place where office workers have to do so, then the content is no longer private and using the special "safe" sending method has been useless. You can, if you have the knowledge (I don't and it can be very complex, I've seen with friends), create your own intranet network. Either that, or convince all your email friends to ditch their familiar email account and move to a highly secured provider too. The moment you email someone who uses Gmail or so, your own effords become a bit useless too ...