Scenario: You are an individual with a personal email account. The piece of data that gives you access is a password. The email provider (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo) stores and manages your emails.

Self-Custody is Control: You control access to your email via a password, but the email provider (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo) controls the servers where your emails are stored. The provider holds the authority to manage your account and impose terms of service, meaning they can suspend or delete your account if necessary. You are responsible for securing your password, while the provider is responsible for maintaining the email infrastructure and ensuring data security. Enforcement occurs through the provider’s system, which can restrict your access or require you to comply with their security measures, such as two-factor authentication (2FA).

Self-Custody is a Spectrum: The parties involved are you, the user, and the email provider, who has control over the system. The email provider has an unfair advantage because they control the infrastructure where your data is stored, meaning they can suspend or delete your account without your consent. This imbalance places you lower on the self-custody spectrum, as your ability to exert exclusive control is limited by the provider’s authority.

Self-Custody is Recursive: Your email account often acts as the key to many dependent services, including bank accounts, social media profiles, and online tools. The unfair advantage that email service providers hold is their ability to control access, recover passwords, or even suspend your account without your consent. If this self-custody is compromised—either by the provider your entire digital identity can unravel. The loss doesn’t stop at the email inbox; it cascades into every service linked to your email, from cloud storage to social networks.