Own your email's domain
By Niraj Zade | 2023 Feb 12 | 6 min read
This is a short but critical advice. It boils down to -
Look at all the services you use that depend on your email for identity and verification. How much damage can happen if you lose that email for a few weeks (or permanently)?
If you have are registered on a lot of online services using this email id, I bet you will be crippled immediately.
Your email based communication has 2 components:
Now, there are 3 levels of control in this system:
This is the default with which almost everyone starts. You go to one of the major email providers (gmail, hotmail, outlook etc) and register for a free email service.
Suppose you're using gmail. Your email id is [email protected]. Gmail is handling your email inbox.
In this case the owners are:
Here's some explanation:
To decide who owns the email id, just look at the domain. <email-address>@<domain>
Your email address is [email protected]
. So the email address john
is under the domain gmail.com
. Google owns gmail.com. So, google also owns the john
address.
Whoever owns the domain, owns the email address.
Whenever email is sent to/from [email protected], the email is handled by mail servers that are run by gmail (google). So, google also owns the mailbox.
What can you lose?
Suppose gmail decides to block you from using their services.
So, you're screwed, as you retain nothing.
You didn't own anything. Gmail was simply lending you the email id and mailserver. So of course it can take it back if it feels like it. Ownership and reliability it is out of your control.
(This is what I am using)
Suppose you buy the domain john.com
. Under the domain, you create an email id - [email protected].
You take this email address to gmail, and tell it to run a mail server to handle the email exchange occurring on this address.
In this case the owners are:
What can you lose?
Suppose gmail decides to block you from using its services.
In this case, your mailbox will stop working. But you own the email address. So you can take your email address [email protected]
, and just pay another mailbox provider to run the mail server for you. You are free to change the mailbox provider at any time.
There are a lot of providers who will gladly run a mailbox for you - gmail, outlook, zoho, migadu, protonmail etc.
There are also niche email providers that communities host for themselves (eg - many of the the email addresses you find in the linux or postgres mailing lists etc are under community-run mailbox providers).
This is self-hosted email option
In this case, you buy the domain john.com
. Create the email address [email protected]
. Run your own email server, and tell it to handle all email on behalf of [email protected].
In this case the owners are:
What can you lose?
Nothing really.
Nobody can stop your email exchanges, as you own everything.
At max, the various email provider will collectively block email originating from your address. However, you email itself will never stop.
By default we all start at Level 1. For professional or even serious personal use, I want you to move up to Level 2.
It is not that expensive to run -
In total, this setup currently it costs between $46 to $73 per year.
That's a relatively cheap price to pay for control and peace of mind. You are paying for reliability of something that practically controls your entire digital presence.
I'm not asking you to go full level 3. I am asking you to go to level 2.
Doing level 3 properly needs expertise and time. Making sure your self-hosted email server's emails don't get blocked by the mailbox providers used by other people is very hard (the spam management system is how they control their market position. The game is rigged against you). Level 3 setup works best when the people you are communicating with are also using a level 3 setup.
Always remember:
Whoever owns the domain, owns the email address