[zinkem]

I never got spam before I used gmail. Now maybe this has more to do with timing, but it seems like putting everyone's emails on the same domain just makes things easier for spammers. Seems to me like spam is a problem caused by centralization, not solved by it.

It also seems like putting everyone's information in one place makes it easier for hackers to harvest, as well. Gmail probably has a security hole somewhere, too. If gmail's hole is discovered, everyone's emails are compromised (or a large number of people). If a private server gets compromised, there isn't as much there. There's not as much motivation to hack 1000 servers to get 1000 people's information as there is to hack 1 server to get 1000 people's information (although I recognize that one server is going to be a lot harder to crack on average).

I'm open to an education on this topic, as I don't know the methods of modern spammers/crackers.

[j_baker]

It also seems like putting everyone's information in one place makes it easier for hackers to harvest, as well.

Google dreams of being able to handle all that information on one server.

Besides that, it's not incredibly common (albeit not impossible) for people to steal information by actually hacking directly into their servers, especially with someone like Google. More likely ways to get at someone's email is through XSS or phishing attacks.