I signed up to get away from mainstream Google/ Gmail etc… but found myself signing into gmail and using google to link me to this site.
Are there any other search engines I could use besides Google or Safari and other email accounts I can create besides gmail, yahoo and the others? (I heard Protonmail is safe for emails)
Thank you,
DrewT
Hey @DrewT and welcome to the forums!
There are quite a few email services that offer privacy, like Proton Mail, Tutanota, Start Mail, Sekur, to name a few. There’s a good discussion about them if you search “emails for privacy” in these forums.
The most private search engine is Brave Search, which is also default in the Brave Browser (which you can use on your desktop, laptop, or mobile device). Another private search engine is Start Page, which brings you Google results, without the tracking. One more is DuckDuckGo.
If you’re part of the Linux Learning Group (it’s a $20 paid subscription), we have courses for creating your own VPN, and your own server (including your private email server). Before you go into that, the options I mentioned above will definitely help. Also, a good VPN service will add to your privacy. 
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Thank you for this useful post. I’m ready to give up Gmail and I wasn’t sure where to start. I just want to say that I personally have noticed that both Brave and DuckDuck Go seem to be connected to Google…or at least as controlled as Google. They aren’t as private or independent as people believe. I’m looking for an alternative to all 3 of those search engines that is truly private.