That's why I put "security and privacy" between quotes. I have absolutely Jo way to confirm if they are secure and private or if they're not, other than all the contradicting mentions all over the internet. Also, while security and privacy may not be mutually dependent in the physical world, it stands to reason that something insecure cannot be private, and something not private is inherently insecure, as @pixelscript@lemmy.ml clearly pointed out. As for controlling my own email infrastructure, I'd love to, as everything else I do self-host, and only with FOSS software. However, email hosting is a seriously complicated animal that requires too much effort and maintenance, and most of us dont have the knowledge and time to invest in that, so compromises need to be made. I am well aware that there's always risk on using something I have no real control over, but the alternative meets the reason for the phrase "the treatment is worse than the decease".