My philosophy is that it doesn't really matter that much as long as it's not Google. I don't think any other provider will be any less keen to capitalize on their user's data but at least if it's not Google they are probably working with far less other data provided by me (search, android...etc) so their efforts will yield far less success in deciphering my daily routine and habits.

Of course you shouldn't use clear text email for anything but the most trivial of stuff.

>Of course you shouldn't use clear text email for anything but the most trivial of stuff.

How do you send emails to someone who is rather technologically illiterate?

I use gandi.net. I have a free 1GB inbox with the domain name I have registered with them and can upgrade if I need more space. I also think having your own domain name for your email is a must. Once you do that you can migrate between email services (that support custom domain names) seamlessly.

I use fastmail, not free but I think it's worth it.

mailbox.org is a decent option.