Post #1122903

2026-04-13 07:02 UTC

RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@Paul_Taylor/116393432979937863 Google and Microsoft - the global email service duopoly - block other services in the name of "fighting spam". I get it. Spam is a perpetual arms race. But the opaqueness of Google and Microsoft's practices and decades-long predatory self-dealing mean no one trusts them to apply even their own rules. Email still works interoperably. Just about. Getting off US duopolies and monopolies is vital for the future of the internet. So in that way, digital sovereignty is vital to save the internet.

Replies (8)

@davidtheeviloverlord@mastodon.social 2026-04-13 07:22

@mariafarrell@mastodon.social Slightly different situation, but when I try to use YouTube (also owned by Google) using Duckduckgo, the error message tells me YouTube thinks I'm a bot, and I have to sign in, without Duckduckgo, if I want to see anything. Spam. Bot. Excuses to drag us back into the monopoly.

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@phil_stevens@mastodon.nz 2026-04-13 07:21

@mariafarrell Some of the worst spam events I have dealt with in recent years came from Microsoft networks. Do as they say, not as they do.

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@EF@mastodon.bsd.cafe 2026-04-13 08:01

@mariafarrell recent spamwave has come, almost solely, from Google, Microsoft or AWS servers.

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@grepe@ieji.de 2026-04-13 11:17

@mariafarrell i still do host my own email server but i don't use it as my primary email any more exactly because of shit like this... i can somehow digest the 50 scam emails per day that slip through my primitive spam filter but i NEED my tax advisor to recieve my documents on time and that just doesn't happen when gmail or outlook suddenly decide my 17th email in a chain is a spam.

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@Black_Flag@beige.party 2026-04-13 13:53

@mariafarrell Its almost as if freedom makes things work better than incarceration.

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@jsc@hcommons.social 2026-04-13 15:53

@mariafarrell The situation is atrocious. I have a semi-self-hosted email account through HostGator. I chose to abandon Gmail many years ago for obvious reasons. More and more, I find that people do not receive my emails - important emails that are clearly not spam. And I do not receive an error message from the recipient server! No failure notification! But, sure, the big email providers are more than happy to accommodate spammers who want to flood your inbox anyway. It will be a sad (and preventable) state of affairs if emails turn out like telephones - such that you won't even pick up anymore.

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@harald@mementomori.social 2026-04-14 05:56

@mariafarrell and the real irony is that Microsoft's and Google's systems are used to send a lot of spam.

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@Photo55@mastodon.social 2026-04-19 19:12

@mariafarrell Any of us might set up a mail server, working through a network gate, and accepting and distributing mail only to a list of addresses, IP or domain. The network operators are difficult about the usual and several other ports, but there are ways. And there's even UUCP ;)

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