Why do self-respecting hackers use Gmail & Co?
<i>So why is there such a high degree of Gmail usage among those groups?</i><p>Because we're lazy.<p><i>you give away control over your personal data</i><p>Yes, and if my data disappeared tomorrow, I'd be pretty pissed off. But since Gmail has a sort of critical mass, it would be likely that other people would lose data too. Lots of pissed off users would tarnish Google's reputation and it's in their interest to avoid that.<p><i>you put your personal data within the U.S. jurisdiction</i><p>A lot more than my email is within that jurisdiction and is much more important -- like my money, family, and possessions.<p>Besides, I'm a hacker. If I want to send something sensitive, I'll be smarter than sending it over SMTP and logging it via Gmail.<p><i>you give Google not only the social web information who mails whom, but also the full content of that communication</i><p>Yep, they data-mine my email anonymously, but they try to not be evil about it. There are much more nefarious groups tracking my behavior, too. Besides, the group effort cuts down spam.