Once you release everything is jewed and you have a hardware back door into your computer no matter what you use you can just move on and stop giving a shit.

If they wanted to get you they'd just upload illegal shit to your computer anyway.

I have been using privatemail. I have no idea if they are any better but I chose them because I have been using torguard as a VPN for a while. I picked them because they didn't advertise as heavily as the others.

I was just about to do the same thing. Very disappointed.

I don't think there are any safe alternatives for e-mail. Snail mail is only secure because they need a warrant to open a letter.

Run your own e-mail server at home is about the only secure option but email rolls over public networks.

Exchange PGP keys with those you converse with and run your own server. I still think the NSA can read anything they want.

Your best bets are obfuscation by proliferation (simply using normie mass email services like Gmail and keep changing addresses) or use disposable services like Guerrilla Mail that achieve the same result but will self destruct after use. Secure email providers are a meme and Proton Mail was compromised ages ago.

The problem with roll your own is that you will never know if you have been compromised. You lack the sophisticated counter measures and detection systems that a quality commercial operation has. Even they have a hard time of it and they spend all day every day looking for it. You dont have the time for it. So your home brew email system is even more compromised than a commercial system.

I use several VPNs (one for a group of sites, another for another group, etc) and I looked into starting my own but when I started to look into my requirements I realized none of them were capable of providing those nor am I smart enough to walk through the code of an entire Linux distro to make the code removals.

Assuming Linux as the OS:

For example, no logging. Proton was probably just disabling logging at the daemon level (turn off syslog). My requirement would be to remove the entire code base for syslog and recompile Linux so the OS has no idea how to log anything. Then you have the TCP/IP code, which by design is not secure. That has to be changed to prevent security tools from working. They can use microscopes and physically recreate data from a hard disk. So there's another code base to change. The list of requirements starts growing pretty quick. Even if you manage to run your entire VPN from a CD-ROM with no way of storing logs or data you still have RAM that can be reviewed. RAM chips can be kept alive with low voltage.

Nothing involving the public internet, and even private networks are suspect these days.

There isn't any. Even if you solve end to end secure communications you still run the risk of targeted malware. Suppose your group ends up recruiting an informer. A PDF or JPG file, once opened, can attempt to access your system and lay dormant for weeks or longer and then attempt to access the internet without the system owner suspecting anything. The Chinese do that shit every day. I would say 90% of malware comes from email.

Groups need to develop secure communications and good memories instead of relying on the internet except with necessary.

Your own mail server.

Chinese or Russian email servers if you dont live in those countries and live somwhere USA friendly. The hate between USA and China/Russia keeps your data away from USA government.

The old reliable: https://lavabit.com/signup.html This one looks good on paper, but needs further research: https://ctemplar.com/ Beyond these, a search on the Darknet would be in order.