on topic
I think the original question about Admiral's targeted discrimination (after all, that IS what it is) has been answered.
Admiral DO charge their customers who use Hotmail to apply for
insurance, up to £31 extra, just for the customer being a hotmail user.
Several other folks asked what was wrong with hotmail, I offer my opinion as to why.
Perception:
hotmail gmail, yahoo and other free email services have been long considered as "disposable" email accounts, free for anyone on the planet to use in an anonymous manner. Anyone can be anyone they wish to be.
There is little or no credibility given to the individuals or company’s that use these services.
These services are the most misused and abused.
They have also been hacked en-mass with user names/passwords etc published on the internet, or what seems more common, those stolen credentials have been sold on for criminal purposes.
These type of anonymous services simply have little to zero trust associated with them, the sender of an email from these services could be anyone anywhere.
These are mostly where the spam comes from, the scams and other malicious activity is mostly from these type of platforms
They are insecure and totally unsuited for any serious use such as payments, banking, or for anything personal, confidential or sensitive.
They are considered high risk from a trust point of view.
Sure they work and they are ok for sending trivia over the internet if the sender attaches no importance to the contents, no problem for the holiday snaps and chit chat. But for anything else they are to be avoided.
I pointed out that there were and are, other email service providers that offer free AND secure email services that will improve all areas of privacy & security for the sender and enhance the credibility of the sender.
I also added some comments about VPNs, which I consider to be an absolute essential for a traveller who uses the internet from random places. In fact, for me these issues around privacy and data security are very high priorities for me whether I am travelling or not.
Probably a topic that needs it's own thread (unless one exists already)
That of secure email and internet access while travelling.
james