Know nothing about web servers but

[Shankapotomus]

...I am trying to think of a way to not be at the mercy of web based email providers that sell my information to third party advertisers. I know about Lavabit.com email but their email accounts don't have enough options for me.

I was going to try this way of setting up a server:

[url]http://www.instantfundas.com/2008/03/how-to-setup-your-own-web-server-at.html[/url]

Building off of DuckDuckGo's idea of privacy, I want to start my own personal (just for me, no end users) web based email server so I don't have to deal with third party advertisers or somebody else managing my email service. And then just give that email address out to friends who can contact at my own server that I run myself so I know no one is managing my email other than me.

Does this make any sense to someone who knows about this stuff or do I not understand web servers? Once I have my own web server set up, would the emails be on my computer? I prefer if they were completely web based so I don't use up more space on my computer.

Is this or something close to it possible? Thanks!

[PoliticAverse]

1. Looking what they offer this apparently won't do what you want...

The site you linked to lets you set up a webserver on your PC.
Email is different that a webserver. What yahoo mail, google mail etc are are webserver based interfaces coupled with a backend email service.
Somewhere there needs to be a program running that handles incoming and outgoing email.

[Shankapotomus]

2. And so

that program, you're saying, has to run on a PC somewhere? It can't just be a web script?

This is all knew to me so please forgive me if I don't comprehend something right away.

In other words, am I describing anything that's doable with whatever technology is out there?

I don't want to host a whole email service, just my own email account. So my computer doesn't have to be on all the time. Only when I want to access my mail. However, I want the mail to be stored online, not on my computer.

Thanks. Be back later.

[PoliticAverse]

3. Since you want your mail to be stored online somewhere that isn't your computer...

the computer that's receiving/sending/storing the email has to be running a program specifically for handling email (can't be a webscript, the web and email are
really different things) and really needs to be running 24/7.

You mentioned that you looked at lavabit.com. What were they missing that you wanted ?

[Shankapotomus]

4. Actually, until about 2 minutes ago,

I thought LavaBit was weirdly antiquated and didn't support images in email...LOL. But just discovered you have to turn that option on when you see the "Display images" link in an email.

I may give LavaBit a whirl after all. But I would like to see chat and particularly sms texting, which I use a lot with Gmail now. If I'd really want to ween myself off Gmail, and intrusive commercial spying, I'd have to give up Google Voice. But there are plenty of internet phone alternatives out there.

[DaveJ]

5. Sorry for stating the obvious, but..

They will still get your info, anyway, if you send email to anyone with a Yahoo, Gmail, etc., email address.