Know nothing about web servers but [View all]

...I am trying to think of a way to not be at the mercy of web based email providers that sell my information to third party advertisers. I know about Lavabit.com email but their email accounts don't have enough options for me.

I was going to try this way of setting up a server:

[url]http://www.instantfundas.com/2008/03/how-to-setup-your-own-web-server-at.html[/url]

Building off of DuckDuckGo's idea of privacy, I want to start my own personal (just for me, no end users) web based email server so I don't have to deal with third party advertisers or somebody else managing my email service. And then just give that email address out to friends who can contact at my own server that I run myself so I know no one is managing my email other than me.

Does this make any sense to someone who knows about this stuff or do I not understand web servers? Once I have my own web server set up, would the emails be on my computer? I prefer if they were completely web based so I don't use up more space on my computer.

Is this or something close to it possible? Thanks!