said Gene Heskett:

|There is no competing ISP available in your neck of the woods?  And do

|those posts normally subjectable to copyright carry the notice that they

|are?

alas, no, frontier dsl is the only game in my neck of -- literally -- the woods. there's not even cellular service here, though at home i can get tmobile cell over ip. as to copyright, that's not the issue. people i'm writing about and who are giving me information sometimes communicate via email and they would like that communication to be confidential.

frontier has always farmed its email service out to yahoo, which is frightening enough. but last year the email part of the rotting remains of yahoo was bought up by a consortium of what's left of aol and verizon to create something called "oath." last week they sent new terms of use, in part:

-- We’ve updated how we collect and use data. We’ve updated some of the ways we collect and analyze user data in order to deliver services, content, and relevant advertising to you and protect against abuse. This includes:

--Analyzing content and information (including emails, instant messages, posts, photos, attachments, and other communications) when you use our services. This allows us to deliver, personalize and develop relevant features, content, advertising and services

-- Linking your activity on third-party sites and apps with information we have about you

Providing anonymized and aggregated reports to other parties regarding user trends

-- We’ve joined Verizon. By joining Verizon, Oath and its affiliates may share the information we receive among Verizon. Learn more about Verizon’s privacy practices.

dont you just love that "protect against abuse" part? that's the same company that managed to let the information on a *billion* users get loose not long ago. no, thanks.

so protonmail is essential. making it work with kmail is to cause my life to be nicer.