But you rent the domain as well. With the additional caveat that the domain will be available for renting by anybody else once you stop paying, whereas Gmail won't.
> With the additional caveat that the domain will be available for renting by anybody else once you stop paying
Not with the “additional” caveat. That’s the only caveat, and it’s a simple, understandable and known risk.
Using gmail.com or whatever puts you in a situation where the risks are numerous and unknown, and as a non-paying freeloader you get nothing to say in how access to your digital identity is managed.
If you care about your digital identity, there’s literally only one obvious answer.
People have had their GoDaddy/NameCheap/... account social-engineered away from them too. That might be easier to fix than your Gmail (because you're a paying customer), but if your npm is already gone, having NameCheap apologize doesn't help much.
Not with the “additional” caveat. That’s the only caveat, and it’s a simple, understandable and known risk.
Using gmail.com or whatever puts you in a situation where the risks are numerous and unknown, and as a non-paying freeloader you get nothing to say in how access to your digital identity is managed.
If you care about your digital identity, there’s literally only one obvious answer.