[TriLUG] In a LUG a long time ago

[Igor Partola]

In a LUG, a long time ago, but somehow still in the future, email and
"cloud" services were provided to its members for free.

So I have been on what feels like a never ending quest to move my email off
GMail for various privacy and vendor lock-in concerns. The requirements are
that it should provide plenty of space (at least 5 GB's) as I am unwilling
to change my pattern of archiving various conversations for later, be
extremely reliable, and have great spam protection.

Looking at the options, there are basically three:

1. GMail alternatives, such as Zoho, FastMail, etc. All of these have the
same drawbacks as GMail: for profit SaaS provider who can easily be forced
by the government to let it spy on the provider's users.

2. Host your own. This option is great, but I don't trust myself to keep it
up 100% of the time, and I need it to be extremely reliable. Not getting a
midnight page from a broken application is not acceptable. Not getting an
invoice for renewing an SSL certificate for a client's web application is
not acceptable.

Moreover, I'd have to host it on rented equipment such as Linode, etc. and
worry about backups myself, which sucks. I know enough to do it, but email
is so critical to me that I don't trust my amateur skills.

3. Various non-profits providing email. I have an account on pilot, and I
am also an SDF member where I get a small mailbox. This options is the most
interesting to me.

Now, picture a LUG which, such as TriLUG, which offers an email, document
storage (think ownCloud), and related services, with reliable dedicated
hardware, backups, and high security, all from people you have met, and
with privacy, security, and stability as the highest priority. This would
of course take lots of someone's time, and money, so it wouldn't be truly
free, but I for one, would be willing to contribute financially for a
worthy cause like this.

This could also be a benefit to community: an opportunity for all those
comp sci majors at Duke, UNC, and NC State to volunteer and learn quite a
bit about how to run a real service provider, how to run a secure system,
etc.

To me, other than the technical and not so technical discussions, this is
the role of a LUG in the 21st century. Now, if we were to raise some money
for decent hardware, would the steering committee and the members be
willing to use it to set up a service like this?

Igor