I'm wondering if there's any alternatives at the moment?
If you want to avoid that, but the creepiness isn't enough to scare you off email all together your options are to self host, or (better service, less privacy) rent a server.
I'm currently renting a dedicated server from OVH^. The servers are in France, with prices starting at $3 a month. You can put use the same server for a blog, VPN internet proxy, owncloud data dump, whatever you like.
Setting up mail is more time consuming than you'd think, unless you use a pack like Zimbra or iRedMail. I'm using Zimbra for some specific features, but iRedMail plays nicer with other software. They are pretty much the same thing, a package that sets up a mail server, some spam filtering, an admin interface, and roundcube for webmail.
^note that OVH will be sold out on that deal for around a month, but you can get a VPS in the mean time (recommend Digital Ocean). Take regular backups if you are buying cheap, expect a hardware fail once in 3 years so be prepared to get a replacement up very fast. The idea here is to be just obscure enough that your data is not retrievable without unlikely manual intervention.
I also checked out the zoho.com's gmail like service, but that was painful at best. Most of the time signups are blocked and you have to have good timing to get in. They are also not very clear on what's free and what costs. I was able to sign up for the paid part of Zoho that has a trial, but, I was expecting to have the free stuff at the time. Once I found the link for the free stuff, I wasn't able to get past the signup block.
Note that Zoho has many more apps than google docs. Off the top of my head, checkbook, crm, project planner and about 10 others. However... I'm still not sure what's free and what costs money.
FWIW...
Sorry I just find it funny that used to be an acceptable response to me you or anyone like us when we bring up privacy concerns about the web.
In regards to alternatives I haven't found any that checks all the boxes and isn't homegrown. I think that is the safest for now. These days i really running your own isn't too bad especially paired with thunderbird.
would recommend