Hi. I need ethical online service providers that respect my privacy and my four software freedoms.
Regarding email service, the FSF [recommends][] picking one "located in a country that won't cooperate with governments that you're particularly concerned about privacy from." I think this recommendation also applies to other online services such as social networks. I also think that the unethical governments in question include all members of the Fourteen Eyes and their accomplices. [recommends]: https://www.fsf.org/resources/webmail-systems However, that same FSF article appears to send mixed signals because, after that recommendation, it then recommends services such as Posteo and Riseup -- respectively based in Germany and the USA, both members of the Fourteen Eyes. Does that mean the recommendation about avoiding unethical governments is secondary to other issues such as an organizational commitment to user privacy and software freedom rights? I currently use multiple [Disroot][] services. I am satisfied with their quality, ethics and cost-effectiveness (they ask for modest donations), but they are based on the Netherlands -- within the Nine Eyes[1]. Should I change to [Kolab Now][] for email, addressbook, calendar and Nextcloud services? It is well recommended by the FSF, is located on [Switzerland][] -- outside the Fourteen Eyes -- and charges a reasonable price. [Disroot]: https://disroot.org/ [Kolab Now]: https://kolabnow.com/ [Switzerland]: https://protonmail.com/blog/switzerland/ However, it would be a lot of work to tell all my contacts that my email address changed again (as I recently migrated from Gmail to Disroot); to change all my numerous mailing list subscriptions and online accounts to the new email address; and reconfigure my email setup. Besides, Disroot provides more services for the same suggested price. Furthermore, should I believe Switzerland has no secret agreement with the Fourteen Eyes? After all, despite the *heroic* effort of Snowden, we only know about a small part of our surveillance predicament. And should I believe that Switzerland privacy advantages will last? I don't want to change providers again next year. Also for social networks (GNU Social, Mastodon and diaspora*) should I insist that the provider is outside the Fourteen Eyes? Regards Footnotes: [1] The members of the Fourteen Eyes include the members of the Nine Eyes, which in turn include the members of the Five Eyes. -- - <https://jorgemorais.gitlab.io/justice-for-rms/> - I am Brazilian. I hope my English is correct and I welcome feedback. - Please adopt free/libre formats like PDF, ODF, Org, LaTeX, Opus, WebM and 7z. - Free/libre software for Replicant, LineageOS and Android: https://f-droid.org - [[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html][What is free software?]] _______________________________________________ libreplanet-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
