From an investment newsletter:
I've tested all kinds of things that claim to help you retain control of your privacy online. The results, quite frankly, were generally terrible. Most programs resulted in an unacceptably poor Internet experience... and not much certainty I was doing things a whole lot safer than I was before.
A few things have performed admirably, and I am using them now.
First, I've switched my free e-mail provider.
I have switched out of Yahoo and Google over to Hushmail, a privacy-focused e-mail provider based in Canada. The benefit here is U.S. authorities can't cite the Patriot Act and get whatever they want... They need to be granted a Canadian court order. While you may choose a different provider, Hushmail does everything I need it to do. But nothing is air-tight...
Even Hushmail was raided by U.S. authorities a couple years ago... Officials were looking for information about three criminals.
Hushmail's CEO explained the company's position: "Hushmail is useful for avoiding general Carnivore-type government surveillance, and protecting your data from hackers, but definitely not suitable for protecting your data if you are engaging in illegal activity that could result in a Canadian court order."