I’ve been so upset with google for a long time. It might be seamless if you don’t live in china or whatever, but for me it’s been pain for years. A few years ago they stopped accepting my credit card. this year they stopped accepting my gf’s card (she’s chinese). I tried to verify my identity with passport images and utility bills for months. I have a lot of stuff spanning over a decade there. I tried to rage delete everything but Google made it so difficult that i got tired out a few times. I finally did it. Well, not quite. it’s sointertwined with every service and account i have. it’s such a pain. I am working full time emigrating to protonmail for now. Thing is i’ve been so scarred i don’t trust protonmail either.
i’m so so done with online services. I researched how to host my own mail server. I already have one for the company, maybe i’ll just move there, but i would like something cheaper just in case the company goes belly up some time in the future. Also i would ideally just share hosting across my devices instead of relying on a hosting provider. Imagine a new internet where everyone is hosting the stuff they need, with some help from a small network of friendly backup buddies. I feel it’s gotten so invasive that we kind of have to create our own internet. Servers are a big hole in that plan, but torrents do work even if some of the seeders turn their pc off right.