From time to time I wonder why the EU accepts foreign companies stealing so much personal data. China did the right thing. We should learn from them. India, afaik, also has better protection.
I moved my e-mail off Google a few years ago after the PRISM leaks (which the world seems to have collectively forgotten about), but it's not easy. I've posted an article before on my struggles with running my own e-mail server and my messages going straight to spam (even with valid DMARC, DKIM and SPF records).
I have a lot of friends internationally and I feel I can't exit FB, Google Hangouts, etc. The idea of federated social networking never really made it. :(
Don't give up with your email server! Slowly, more and more of my messages have made it to Gmail users' inboxes (rather than spam folders) over the past few months.
Classic example of the difference between nation-states and macro-powers btw. Should an individual market, even a rich one like the UK, complain about this and that, Google would shrug. But when it's the whole of the EU talking, they better listen.
I don't think China did the right thing. Their citizens were almost certainly better off with Google holding their meta-data and private email communications.
From time to time I wonder why the EU accepts foreign companies stealing so much personal data. China did the right thing. We should learn from them. India, afaik, also has better protection.