Most apps & websites these days require an account, promising a tailored experience while collecting lots of personal data. Unfortunately, a regularly recurring news item is about companies getting hacked and the theft of user data. For decades, I was naively using the same email & often password everywhere and a quick look at my spam folder shows it. Checking on haveibeenpwned.com reveals my email address has been part of ten publicly known data breaches! For many of these breaches I didn't even remember I had an account. I, therefore, decided it was time for a more secure approach moving forward.

I read a column about registering your baby’s email and social media handles to ensure their names are not taken by the time they grow up (especially if you have a common last name). Although many people will find this idea ridiculous, I have empathy for parents thinking about their family’s online identity – see my last post – but I am also a big advocate for being in control of your digital footprint and not relying on free services. Like most of the internet users, I have used Gmail, Hotmail (now Outlook) or Yahoo for personal accounts as long as I can remember; however, becoming more privacy concerned I finally set-out to find alternatives for my family’s email.