To answer the part of your question I'm able to answer:

Q: Is there a safer way to back up Google content?

Install the Thunderbird email client which can download all gmail mail via a separate user-initiated request or automatically, to Thunderbird files or separate .eml files. Every time you open the client it can automatically sync with gmail.

Then, back up those files two ways: locally to an encrypted partition on an external drive, and via a more secure cloud service (e.g. Dropbox, Carbonite, Mozy, Sync, Box, etc.).

[Edited to comment on which part of the question I'm able to answer]