Restored from the project wiki (we.riseup.net), which is no longer online.
On the Internet anyone can create servers, websites, email and more. However, most of the web is built by for-profit companies that do not put the user at the centre of their priorities.
Self-managed services are practical, real alternatives to these problems, and they offer services that are as secure as possible from a perspective of radical change rather than profit.
The most important collectives in this area are autistici/inventati, riseup and indivia.
Asking them for an email account is very easy:
go to services.autistici.org and fill in the form.
After a few days, you will receive at your existing email address the notification that the new account has been created, with all the (very simple) instructions to start using it.
Account creation is not immediate because every request is reviewed by hand in order to prevent abuse.
Go to user.riseup.net/forms/new_user/first
A short step-by-step begins, in which you will be asked to read and accept their policy, and then asked for the account name you want and some other simple information.
In the last part you will have to justify your request, explaining why you need an account on riseup.
Running these services is very demanding work, but it is carried out free of charge by the activists who are part of them.
What is not free, however, is the electricity, the hardware and everything else needed to keep this infrastructure running. That is why it is important to donate and organise benefits.