The government is scrambling to pass laws for mass surveillance [2] and controversial data retention laws. [3]
[1] https://www.fastmail.com/help/legal/privacy.html
[2] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/09/australian-government-...
[2] http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/oct/16/privac...
Especially given that most people are using Gmail, or Outlook / Office365, or Yahoo! Mail, all of them coming from companies that can be and have been coerced by the NSA, without the people finding out about it until those leaks. In fact, as a European citizen, I would be more comfortable with an Australian company, than with a US-based one, simply because the governmental agencies in non-US countries are less competent than the US is at mass surveillance.
But the fact of the matter is ... if you do not encrypt your email on the client-side, you can't expect privacy protections from a global enemy that has the resources for MITM attacks. All the protection you can hope for is against local enemies (organized crime syndicates, competition, etc.)
So here we have a smaller player that's competing against big companies such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo and the first comment is about fear mongering about some laws that haven't even passed yet and targeting a company that has nothing to do with it. Don't take this the wrong way, but seeing this from a community of entrepreneurs is disappointing.
The changes in related laws in Australia are unprecedented [1] and are passing as we speak [2][3]
The comments on their own privacy page is about to become outdated or misleading -
Australia has strong privacy laws in relation to email, specified in the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979. [4]
As an EU citizen you are offered more protection then many other regions of the world, at least from a regulatory perspective -
Under EU law, personal data can only be gathered legally under strict conditions, for a legitimate purpose. Furthermore, persons or organisations which collect and manage your personal information must protect it from misuse and must respect certain rights of the data owners which are guaranteed by EU law. [5]
Please watch the youtube like referenced below to get a feeling of the insanity -
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srk9c4rOgZ4
[2] http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/australias-...
[3] http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/antiterror-laws-rob...