German EmailProvider Freenet Looses Emails
2 comments
This probably is not useful information after the fact, but one mitigating control for email server data loss is to use something like Thunderbird assuming the service supports IMAPS. Thunderbird can either pull all the emails locally, or pull them locally and leave a copy on the server. Thunderbird handles de-duplication by message ID. If the goal is to keep the emails on the server, then one can use Thunderbird to push the missing emails back up to the server.
There are other command line tools that can automate this process and even keep the backup copies of the emails on cloud servers if one wished.
This probably isn't super useful after the fact but something to consider to mitigate against free services losing data in the future.
There are other command line tools that can automate this process and even keep the backup copies of the emails on cloud servers if one wished.
This probably isn't super useful after the fact but something to consider to mitigate against free services losing data in the future.
I happily pay for the email service of my choice.
Losing emails isn't even the worst thing that can happen with a questionable provider.
I have been a long time subscriber to cryptogram. It started out slowly around 2017 that I would not receive that newsletter on a monthly basis. So I thought to myself that the author must have bigger fish to fry. During 2020 I only received 2(August/November),4 during 2021. It was then that I discovered that Freenet does not deliver emails marked as spam to a 3rd party client via POP3. Considering that the newsletter was coming in for the bast 5+ years and their flaky classification it makes one wonder whom they are hiring. Bunch of competent people for sure.
I cannot even begin to describe the dismay and anger I felt discovering it. They did damage to me and probably others. Job applications that went nowhere because the response was never received and the employer thought the candidate is ghosting them, friendships that slipped away because of that. Since I am not a paying customer and I have no legal department to actually compound what that would amount too etc. I cut my losses and switched.
A bit of background. Freenet makes advertisement with "EMail Made in Germany". That used to be a thing backed up by the TüV Reihnland (it is an organization for quality ensurance) a few years back. Since then that certification has been stopped by that organization.
That seal of approval was brought into existence by Web.de, Freenet.de and a few others. That means that they can still brandish that seal on their website,to hoodwink people as they brought it into existence. It is worth nothing though. With my experience I had concerning the quality of service Freenet offers I am very weary of any organization advertising with it these days.
So should you have a hunch that that might have happened to you and maybe some damages occurred to you as a result, this is why it might have happened basically. This unfolded over x-yers with my discovery in late 2021.
I get it. Free service what do you expect. BUT: a) they show advertisement in the free version and only remove it when you pay and give you more storage and I doubt they have different measures(ingress, etc) in place for non-paying customers(less features yes(e.g. no virusscan etc.) but that mechanism should be so central it might have applied to paying customer as well). b) Email is such a central umbilical cord in our modern society that you should have a sturdy reliable service and not such a heap of steaming dung you give people. If you cannot do that with the resources you have and you need paying customers then change your business model and do not offer a free service.