Post #1109043

2026-03-06 06:59 UTC

Another reason to not use Proton, folks; &quot;Privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail provided Swiss authorities with payment data that the FBI then used to determine who was allegedly behind an anonymous account affiliated with the Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta, according to a court record reviewed by 404 Media.&quot; https://www.404media.co/proton-mail-helped-fbi-unmask-anonymous-stop-cop-city-protestor/ Previously, from just over a year ago; https://theintercept.com/2025/01/28/proton-mail-andy-yen-trump-republicans/ And a reminder that, with more than 100 million users, they are Big Tech; https://proton.me/blog/proton-100-million-accounts If you do not like Apple&#39;s marketing of its privacy claims, you should be just as wary of Proton&#39;s, including their positioning of themselves as champions of online freedom and a better internet. Yes, including those fundraisers; https://proton.me/blog/2025-lifetime-fundraiser-results

Replies (4)

@sindarina@ngmx.com 2026-04-10 19:05

Speaking of reasons to not use Proton; there's an interview with Andy Yen, Proton's CEO, in our local NRC newspaper today, and there's a number of things in it that are worth highlighting; 1) Dude only does job interviews on Sundays, because that filters out the people who aren't really 'committed'; 2) They want to grow to a billion users by 2030; 3) The unmasking of the Stop Cop City protester is not the first time Proton has assisted law enforcement, there are similar cases involving a French climate activist, and a Catalan independence activist; 4) They have complied with 94% of all requests for information since 2017, and got 9.301 requests last year, of which they rejected less than a thousand; 5) One of their latest products, Proton Meet, is built on top of US cloud services. — So, yeah, be wary of Proton, and the promises they make. They are Big Tech, they are tech bros, and they want to grow, grow, grow. That is not compatible with the image they have created for themselves. https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/04/10/de-privacy-vriendelijke-tech-van-proton-is-geliefd-bij-activisten-en-idealisten-het-bedrijf-wil-ook-uit-de-nerdniche-komen-a4924552 https://www.sambent.com/proton-helped-the-fbi-unmask-a-protester-then-said-they-didnt/ https://www.sambent.com/proton-meet-isnt-what-they-told-you/

Open ##1411338
@pgrond@mastodon.social 2026-03-06 07:06

@sindarina to be fair, this is not on Proton. They have to comply with legally binding requests by the Swiss government. It is possible to hide the owner of an account by paying with crypto for example. This is not an issue of Proton being big tech IMHO.

Open ##1411344
@f800gecko@mastodon.online 2026-04-10 19:55

@kkarhan @sindarina I can't recall if it was over this exact issue or one similar, but I wrote proton on the matter and received the attached boilerplate reply. It may not be 100% useful, but it sheds some light on their position and how to (inconveniently) better protect oneself if one does continue with the service. (Alt text converter on the fritz - if anyone can add, I'd be much obliged)

Open ##1411354
@elfin@mstdn.social 2026-04-10 20:09

@sindarina Ohhhhhh, that was naughty.

Open ##1411357