Hi, my name is Mick. Keeping my full name off the internet feels like the right call for someone running a site about keeping your information private. And I want to have a heart to heart about your privacy...
Does this sound familiar?
A couple of weeks ago I was starting to look at booking a holiday in Rome. Within an hour my email was full of hotel comparison ads, transportation ads — and even one for hair transplant bargains in Rome. I mean...what on earth? 👀
I'd spent a few minutes on a couple of hotel comparison sites. That was enough. Somehow that browsing session — on completely different websites — had fed back into my inbox and turned it into a travel brochure. It felt icky. I'm sitting by myself in front of my laptop but I now have uninvited guests in my inbox....and this was just me thinking about a trip!
That's when I started looking into what was actually happening inside my inbox.
Here's what most people don't know
When you open an email in Gmail, you're not just reading it. You're actively sending data back.
There's a mechanism called a tracking pixel — an invisible 1×1 image embedded in the email. When you open it, the pixel loads, and that load pings the sender's server with exactly when you opened it, what device you're on, what app you're using, and approximately where you are.
That's just what the sender knows. Your email provider — Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo — knows considerably more. They see which emails you open, which links you click, how long you spend reading, what you hover over. All of it feeds into a profile that gets priced and sold to advertisers.
Your holiday in Rome doesn't stay in Rome.
The providers doing this right now
Click any provider to see the full picture — or keep reading.
ISPs can sell your browsing data
There's no shadowy figure reading your emails. It's not malicious in the way most people imagine.
It's indifferent. You're a revenue line item — a cluster of data points that gets priced and sold. Your reservations, your doctor's appointments, your messages to your accountant, your family conversations — they're all inputs to a machine that's trying to predict what you'll buy next.
You don't exist as a human being to this system. You're a behavioural signal with a dollar value attached.
Knowing that tends to change how it feels. And once you know it, you can't unknow it.
The good news: you can opt out. It takes about five minutes.
Your Inbox Can Be a Quiet Place
No ads between your emails. No algorithm deciding what to show you based on who you wrote to last week. A message from your doctor that just arrives — and nobody else processes it on the way. That's what Proton Mail gives back.
Start Free — Or Upgrade From $1/MonthThis site earns a commission if you sign up through our links. It doesn't affect our recommendations or your price. Full disclosure →
Something surprising happened when I switched
In the first week of using Proton, some of my emails broke. Images disappeared. Layouts that had been beautifully designed in Gmail showed up as white boxes with fragments of text.
Proton was stripping the tracking code. And for some of those emails, the tracking infrastructure was so deeply woven into the design that removing it partially collapsed the layout. The "content" of those emails turned out to be mostly surveillance wrapped around a thin shell of marketing.
The emails that looked normal in Proton were genuinely normal. The ones that broke were showing me what they'd really been built for →
Why Proton Mail?
Zero-Access Encryption
Your emails are encrypted before they leave your device. Not even Proton can read them.
Swiss Privacy
Protected by the world's strongest privacy laws, outside US and Five Eyes surveillance reach.
Open Source
Independently audited code that security researchers can verify — no black boxes.
Proton Mail vs Big Tech Email
Why Privacy Leaders Are Sounding the Alarm
You don't have to delete Gmail
The single biggest reason people don't switch is the feeling that they can't. Twenty years of messages. Every account registered to one address. The idea of switching feels like changing your phone number — technically possible, but who actually does it?
Here's the reframe: you're not switching away from Gmail. You're changing its job title.
Gmail becomes the junk drawer. Newsletters, random signups, anything disposable. Useful, checked occasionally, not treated as important.
Proton becomes where your real life lives. Your financial advisor. Your doctor. Your family. The correspondence that's genuinely private by nature.
The two inboxes run in parallel. No mass migration. No announcement. No stress. You just stop giving Gmail the things that matter — starting today, with whoever you email next.
Most people find that within a month, Proton is the inbox they care about. Here's exactly how to set it up →
This site earns a commission if you sign up through our links. It doesn't affect our recommendations or your price. Full disclosure →
Choose Your Plan
Proton Free
- ✓ 1 GB storage
- ✓ 1 email address
- ✓ End-to-end encryption
- ✓ Mobile apps
- ✓ No ads ever
Mail Plus
- ✓ 15 GB storage
- ✓ 10 email addresses
- ✓ Custom domain support
- ✓ Email aliases
- ✓ Priority support
Proton Unlimited
- ✓ All Mail Plus features
- ✓ Proton Drive (500 GB)
- ✓ Proton VPN Plus
- ✓ Proton Pass Plus
- ✓ Full privacy suite
Learn More About Private Email
What Is a Tracking Pixel? (And Why Your Email Provider Loves Them)
Most people have no idea that opening an email can reveal exactly when, where, and how they read it. Tracking pixels are invisible surveillance tools — and they're in more emails than you think.
Read article →You Don't Have to Delete Gmail. Just Demote It.
The biggest barrier to switching to private email isn't trust or tech — it's the feeling that you can't leave Gmail. You can't, really. But you don't have to. You just change its job title.
Read article →Gmail vs Proton Mail: Which Email Service Actually Protects Your Privacy?
Gmail scans your emails for ads. Proton Mail encrypts them so no one can read them. See the complete privacy comparison and why millions are switching.
Read article →How to Switch from Gmail to Proton Mail in 2026 — The Complete Guide
Step-by-step guide to switching from Gmail to Proton Mail. Import your emails, keep your Gmail address, and start free — or upgrade from $1/month.
Read article →Five Eyes and Your Email: What the Surveillance Alliance Means for Australians
Australia is one of five countries in an intelligence-sharing alliance that can access your email. Here's what the Five Eyes network actually means for your inbox — and how Swiss jurisdiction changes everything.
Read article →When I Switched to Proton Mail, Some of My Emails Broke. That Was the Point.
When Proton Mail stripped the tracking code from my incoming emails, some of them became unreadable. That broken inbox taught me more about email surveillance than any article ever could.
Read article →