Cooperatives & non-profits offering email addresses and mailboxes
Don’t host your mailbox on a digital glebe1.
Host your mailbox with a cooperative or a non-profit.
| URL | legal | country | registrar | inception |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://www.autistici.org/ | Associazione AI-ODV | Italy | no | 2001 |
| https://www.systemli.org/ | ? | no | 2003 | |
| https://www.hostsharing.net/ | Genossenschaft | Ger. | yes | 2000 |
| https://in-berlin.de/ | Verein | Ger. | yes | 1995 |
| https://electricembers.coop/ | ? | U.S. | no | 2001 |
| https://ouvaton.coop/ | société coop.2 | Fr. | yes | 2001 |
| https://www.webarchitects.coop/ | Co-operative 3 | U.K. | yes | 20114 |
| https://mayfirst.coop/en/ | 501(c) | U.S. | no | 2019 |
| https://disroot.org/ | ? | no | 2019 | |
| https://riseup.net | no | 1999 |
FAQ
I don’t care about this table/list, just tell me what email provider I should use.
I’d go for https://autistici.org.
If I wanted an email address with my own domain name, I’d go for https://in-berlin.de/.
As a business, I’d go for https://www.hostsharing.net/; if I wanted a U.K.-registered provider, I might try https://www.webarchitects.coop/; if I wanted French-speaking support, I might try https://ouvaton.coop/.
Will these providers continue to exist for long?
Read about the Lindy effect: https://yctct.com/old
Most of these providers are older than Gmail (which started in 2004).
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I do self-funded research and I'm writing a book.
> What's the book about?
About technologies and agency.
Meaning, technologies can foster agency. No doubt. But I am also asking:
Can usage of technologies give us a sense of empowerment while in fact undermining our abilities?
I posted a summary of the prologue on the homepage: https://yctct.com/
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