solitude

I’m still testing a few. The following list is favorite to least favorite after a month or so of use:

Skiff (free version - 10GB storage) - Using webmail is easy and straight forward, cell app is about the same. REALLY like that you basically get 4 email accounts (1 main and 3 alias account names), which is different than the others below. With the different aliases, this gives me an option to use Skiff for everything (if I choose to put it all in "one basket” - for personal, business and purchases/spam type uses). No integrated calendar, but significantly larger storage is a big plus. Otherwise, separate calendar app is fine, and they seem to be regularly making improvements. They also just implemented: “Quick Aliases are on mobile! Looking to protect your identity on mobile? You can now claim maskmy.id domains on mobile and use them to create privacy-protecting aliases that forward to your Skiff account.”

Tutanota (free - 1GB) - Using webmail is easy and straight forward as well, cell app about same. Main problem is, I’m never going to say “my email is xxxxx@TUTAmail.com” to anyone I know, especially business acquaintances. Name just sounds like something my mother or grandparents were scammed into using. They just changed the name from Tutanota to Tuta for some reason, so they could have taken the opportunity to come up with something different. However, the integrated calendar is nice, instead of a separate app. I’ve always swiped right to delete an email, but that’s archive on this app, and there is no option to change it. It’s been requested to have this option coded in (which it has been on Skiff) from others for year/s prior and no change has been made, so not expecting a lot of updates / improvements going forward.

Proton (free - 1GB, 500MB before doing 4 “tasks”) - Using webmail, cell app and separate calendar are all fine, I just prefer the other two so far.

Proton (free - 1GB storage, 500MB before doing 4 “tasks”) for family, friends, and business types uses, although I’d rather have an integrated calendar (instead of it being a separate app).

Tutanota (free - 1GB storage) for bills, purchases, etc., basically everything else, because I’m never going to say “my email is xxxxx@TUTAmail.com” to anyone I know, especially business acquaintances. So far, I like Tutanota more than Proton, especially the integrated calendar, but that name… sounds like something my mother or grandparents were scammed into using.

On desktop, I’m currently using Thunderbird (TB) for a couple of older gmail accounts (in the process of transitioning away from), although I hate the recent update to TB. Haven’t tried the Tutanota desktop app yet, but web version of email & calendar work adequately. Maybe I’ll transition from TB now, after their recent changes.

Considered mailbox.org, but I’m not going to pay for it (no free version), especially when they don’t at least have a cell app. Skiff may be worth looking at. Can’t recall why I didn’t try them.

EDIT: I’ve now installed Skiff (free - 10GB) as well and liking it so far. Using webmail seems easy and straight forward, cell app looks about the same (but haven’t spent too much time on it yet). REALLY like that you basically get 4 email accounts (1 main and 3 alias account names), which is different than Tutanota and Proton. With the different aliases, this gives me an option to use Skiff for everything (if I choose to “put everything in one basket” at some point). Skiff sounds a little better than “Tuta” for business acquaintances as well, but not by much. No integrated calendar, but significantly larger storage is a plus.

Firefox, or LibreWolf.

I’ve used uBlock Origin & Privacy Badger for years, over a wide variety of different types of websites, and haven’t had any problems.

If you live in a location that has Amazon, and they sell the Mullvad gift-card type voucher, this may be a good alternative option for payment. It has a code under a scratch-off type material on the back, & then you put the code into the Mullvad app for additional time. No way to tie my Amazon account to that gift card (with a random anonymous code under the scratch off) and then to my Mullvad account. The gift card is also discounted from their normal pricing.

I’ve been using Mullvad for years. I buy the gift-card type voucher from Amazon, which has a code under a scratch-off type material on the back, & then put the code into the Mullvad app for additional time. No way to tie my Amazon account to that gift card (with a random anonymous code under the scratch off) and then to my Mullvad account. The gift card is also discounted from their normal pricing. According to their blog, they’ve also recently completed their “migration to RAM-only VPN infrastructure” further assisting with the “no log” policy. I previously used PIA, until Kape Technologies bought them (research “Kape Technologies malware” for my reasoning).

Until somewhat recently, I used to torrent everything. However, Mullvad stopped supporting port forwarding (“PF”, which allows you to open a port, so others can connect to you and download content from you. This keeps a healthy “swarm” and helps keep a file seeded past when the original uploader has finished supporting / seeding the torrent. However, this also allowed scumbags to upload / share some horrible content -think children- and Mullvad didn’t want to be a part of that, for an obvious reason, as well as others), in addition to some other VPNs dropping PF support. This has caused a big problem for me and many others completing files which are even somewhat old, like not even a year old, and very popular. Additionally, RARBG went down, and I was having trouble finding another website that I liked even somewhat as much.

I use usenet now. Although I don’t need a VPN with usenet, I will most likely keep my Mullvad account because of how cheap it is, and how much I like their service and privacy policy.

In regards to Proton email, the base account is free, which I use as my personal account now (with my real name) for family, friends & business. Proton “Mail Plus” is $3.99/Mo., billed on an annual basis (at least that’s what I’m seeing). Then, I also have a Tutanota email account (also free) that I use for all other uses (buying stuff, bills, etc.), and I also like their integrated calendar (although I may continue using the Thunderbird calendar). (Edit: I also completed 4 easy “tasks” with Proton, like getting the app, and they upgraded storage from 500MB to 1GB.)

I use the Firefox browser, but I’ve never used the Mozilla “Firefox Relay” add-on, so not sure if that’s a reliable free alternative to your anonaddy. With me splitting up my two email uses, with Proton & Tutanota, I haven’t really considered a need for something like Relay or anonaddy. I’ll also mention that as far as I know, the VPN that Mozilla/Firefox offers I believe is still Mullvad rebranded.

Just in case you don’t know, you should do an internet search for “nordvpn data breach.” I’m not saying you should switch, or that Nord is bad, but you should at least be aware that this situation occurred and it has been a consideration for a lot of privacy first type people ever since.