OTOH, I like that Posteo is not a corporation, but actually run by a natural person with full personal liability.
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> Can I use Posteo with my own domains?
> No. We are an email provider with a particular, privacy-oriented model – and this is not compatible with incorporating own domains. One of our emphases is data economy: we do not collect any user information (names, addresses, etc) of our customers. We always answer requests from authorities for user information in the negative. On the other hand, own domains need to be registered to the name and address of a person. If you were able to use own domains with us, this would affect the entire concept of Posteo: we would need to start saving user information for all customers who use their own domains with us – and to provide these to the Federal Network Agency to be provided on request to the authorities.
> Even if only the MX record pointed to us, we would still need to store the assignment of the domain in your Posteo account as user information. Thus we would possess your user information and be required to give it out. For this reason, we have decided not to offer this possibility and instead to use data economy. We certainly understand that having your own domain is very important in the commercial industries, but from our privacy-oriented perspective, the disadvantages prevail. It is, however, possible to add various other email addresses with external domains as senders in the webmail interface and thereby to send emails with Posteo using external domains. In order to be able to read replies to these messages, you need to set up forwarding to Posteo for the external address.
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Also please see its stance on privacy [2], where it emphasizes minimizing the data collected from the customer.
How is storing the domain part of the mail address so very different from storing the local part?
> On the other hand, own domains need to be registered to the name and address of a person. If you were able to use own domains with us, this would affect the entire concept of Posteo: we would need to start saving user information for all customers who use their own domains with us – and to provide these to the Federal Network Agency to be provided on request to the authorities.
They don't want to be put in the position where they know what natural person a certain email belongs to.
I get and respect that they want to provide a way to use their service without identifying yourself, but stopping a customer from voluntarily identifying themselves is fairly futile, and counter to how many people intend to use e-mail. (Indeed, they offer payment by bank transfer or paypal, so clearly they do not insist on full privacy)
Well, luckily they have direct competitors that offer the full range, so while I'd love more players in this segment I'm not directly affected by them not wanting such customers (and I find the argument questionable enough to reconsider recommending them in the future)
It's neither the user's wish, nor the company as the company most certainly wants user feedback. Your post quite literally is only there to satisfy yourself.
While I'm sure that we would have to take certain things with a pinch of salt, since Germany is a Fourteen Eyes country, for me this amount of attention is something I haven't seen elsewhere (and not at this price). As I mentioned above, the social responsibility and other factors also heavily influenced me when I did the switch to Posteo.
From the FAQ: [1]
> "How can Posteo be anonymous, when I’m paying by bank transfer or PayPal?
> Credit is always added to your Posteo account anonymously – regardless of whether you pay by bank transfer, PayPal, credit card or in cash. We do not attach the data we receive with payments to the email accounts. We developed our own system for this in 2009, with which all payment processes are anonymised.
> The payment system is the core of our concept of data reduction, above all, because we keep payment information strictly separate from our customers' email accounts, we do not attach any user information to the accounts – and can thereby ensure the fundamentally anonymous use of our email service. You can find out in detail how the anonymisation of payment processes occurs at Posteo on our payment info page."
Just as a rhetorical question: do they decline local parts in the form of firstname.lastname? Thought so.
Sounds like a BS marketing answer.
This has got to be bollocks, right? Always?
If they're served a warrant or subpoenaed or whatever the correct legal procedure is called, they're going to have to comply, right? And all they need is an IP address and you're hosed... unless you're taking multiple other steps to hide.
If I put my TFH (Tin Foil Hat) on, anyone who uses language that strongly is probably a CIA front.
The lock-in provided by not using a custom domain is very convenient.
WPUASTSWSWYOGTUO
But to you point, my primary motivation in this instance was dramatic effect. Additionally, I'm hoping it will catch on.