Free Email Service vs. Secure Email Account

You’re the only one with access to your email, right? As it turns out, the messages and information contained in your email are at risk of being seen and used—all without your consent. From corporations to government, a vast number of third parties may be spying on your email for their own purposes, from advertising to big business to even policymaking. That risk, however, is only for those who use a free email service, as a private email service provider is designed around one concept, just as its name suggests: privacy.

Here are the key differences between a free and private email account so you can weigh the options and decide for yourself how best to protect your information.

Free Email Service

  • Messages can be read or scanned by provider

  • Provider often sells your private information to corporate partners for tailored advertising

  • Often links email activity to wider online activity for a pattern of intrusion

  • Information is stored insecurely

  • Messages are susceptible to public or government view

Most people aren’t sending truly confidential email messages, but no one wants their personal messages to be read by anyone but the sender and the receiver. However, that’s exactly what’s happening with many of the large and free email services like Google or Yahoo. While free email services often have basic protections in place to protect against hacking, it’s common knowledge that such providers use members’ information to suit their own purposes.

Through loopholes in the fine print of user agreements, free email providers are enabled to spy on and use members’ messages and information. Many companies have been shown to sell their users’ information to corporations, who in turn use the data to created targeted advertising, benefitting their own bottom line while depriving email users of their basic rights. On top of having their privacy compromised and their security put at risk, this practice makes the entire email experience fraudulent, as users’ inboxes may be flooded with messages tailored toward them by corporations that spied on their messages. Many free email services also work to get a bigger picture of users’ wider online activity, tying together their email profile with shopping, business or other habits, further cheapening the online experience.

Private Email Service

  • Messages are encrypted for optimum security

  • Accounts are safe from scanning

  • Messages are stored securely

  • Private information will not be sold for ads

 

A private email service provides a user-friendly experience without sacrificing safety. For example, Reagan.com allows users to access their email from anywhere and on any device without worrying about their security. As a leading conservative email site, Reagan.com will never copy, scan or sell users’ messages, nor does it allow third parties to access members’ information for advertising or surveillance, living up to the core tenet of its duty as a private email service.

Apart from this commitment, Reagan.com relies on the most secure technology to carry out its promises to its members. Standard SSL and TSL encryption ensure messages are only read by the intended recipients, while messages are stored securely to protect them long after they’re sent.

Email privacy is one of the biggest security risks that people face online, and it’s one that continues to have serious ramifications for both individuals and businesses. In an open letter to Google, several private email services blasted the company for its deceptive practices: “Currently, individuals may have the understanding that Google’s system is not that different in nature from scanning messages for spam, which is a common practice today. There is a fundamental difference, however. With Gmail, individuals’ incoming emails will be scanned and seeded with ads. This will happen every time Gmail subscribers open their emails to re-read them, no matter how long they have been stored. Inserting new content from third-party advertisers in incoming emails is fundamentally different than removing harmful viruses and unwanted spam.”

Traditional, free email providers are stealing and sharing information about whom you email, what you say and your favorite websites, threatening your online security and openly violating your rights. By using a private email service like Reagan.com, you can fight back against this practice and take a stand against privacy intrusions.