Microsoft vs Fastmail

Microsoft's privacy statement covers an enormous product surface — Windows, Office, Azure, Bing, Xbox, and Copilot — and the data practices vary dramatically across them. The umbrella policy is deliberately vague, deferring almost all specifics to product-level documentation. Cross-product data combination, AI model training on your content, and employer/school access to your files and communications are the key risks most consumers don't realise they're accepting.

Fastmail is a paid email provider that doesn't sell your data or serve ads, has clear retention periods and a transparency report — but unlike Proton, staff can technically access your emails, data moves through US and Indian infrastructure, and IP logs are kept for a year.