How to read your email without Google having access to its content

With a previous article I told how I discovered that Google, through Android, was getting too much in my life. Ever since my mother checked my notebooks (from the university) something like this hadn't happened to me. Fortunately, I discovered Google how to set limits.

You have to be clear about one thing. The only way for Google not to know what you are doing is not to use Google services. In this case Gmail.

I can't guarantee that alternative services like Outlook or Yahoo won't spy, but their products are not as integrated as Google's.

The most extreme solution in terms of privacy, operating our own mail server, will take us more than one article so we will leave it for another time. For now we will stay in intermediate solutions.

Disposable emails

On the Internet there are many offers of free content that you can get in exchange for giving your email address and agreeing to subscribe to their newsletters. Disposable email services allow you to generate an email address that is only for a short period of time. Enough to receive the download link.

Of course, digital marketers took note of that and most email platforms block the more popular disposable email services. That is why I use and recommend TEMP MAIL.

TEMPMAIL is in our language and It has the advantage that they change the name of the server frequently (what is to the right of the at) this prevents digital marketing platforms from blocking it.

When you enter the page an email address is generated. Without leaving the page you copy it and use it in the registration form that interests you. Then go back to the TEMPMAIL page and open the email they sent you as you normally would.

This address can be used in any service that asks for it as long as you do not need to receive communications periodically.

In addition to the web, you can download the application for Android and iOS.

Webmail

If you need a permanent email address, there is an intermediate alternative between using an external service and operating your own server. It is paid, but it is not that expensive.

You just have to hire a web hosting plan that includes the email service. You will have to register a domain and you will not have the storage capacity of Gmail (unless you pay for it). However, you will have the advantage of having a personalized address.

You must make sure that the domain has an SSL certificate. Otherwise, you will not be able to send emails to the main server accounts. However, getting it is not a major problem. Most web hosting providers offer them for free.

This type of account can be seen with any email client such as Thunderbird, although in some cases it may require manual configuration. Hosting providers they also give you the ability to view emails on the web. The good news is that many of them use some open source alternative to manage the service.

Protonmail

If you want to continue using an external service without giving up privacy, an excellent option is Protonmail. This service encrypts the mail for transmission between the source device and the server, where it is also stored encrypted. In the event that the recipient is also a ProtonMail account, it is also sent this way.

The encryption key is owned by the user. This means on the one hand that ProtonMail cannot access the contentor. But, if you forgot your password, you lost access to your emails.

Do you remember Mission: Impossible and its messages that destroyed themselves? Here we have something similar, although virtual. It is possible to set a time after which messages are deleted from the recipient's inbox no matter what their mail server is.

The free account has a capacity of 500 MB