1y ago

Proton is transitioning towards a non-profit structure

proton.me

Proton is transitioning towards a non-profit structure | Proton

11 comments

After learning about this:
Encrypted email provider ProtonMail has drawn criticism from users after it gave a French climate activist's IP information to French police, who subsequently arrested them.
I just started looking for any other option of secure email service provider.
- Based on this statement it looks like they were compelled by the courts:
  In this case, Proton received a legally binding order from Swiss authorities which we are obligated to comply with. There was no possibility to appeal this particular request.
  They also provided an update:
  In October 2021, Proton won a Swiss court ruling that email services are not telecommunications providers. Consequently, email services are not subject to the data retention requirements imposed on telecommunications providers and are exempted from handing over certain user data in response to Swiss legal orders.
  So it sounds like they had their hand forced in that instance to provide the data and got a court ruling that allows them in the future to not retain that data. I would trust them.
  
  it sounds like they had their hand forced
  This is how they try to portray it after their choice to comply. Fully.
  They also said in the clarification thingy:
  The identity and location of the activist was already known to the French authorities...
  It's only by them I heard this claim. Proton gave the IP address, person got arrested is the story I know and it's the one presented in the euronews article.
  ...(they had already been evicted once before for squatting, and the nature of squatting means that their location is known).
  What a weird statement to make to justify giving up an IP address. Actually, I find it weird in all contexts.
  So sure you do you. I totally don't trust them.
Towards?
Officer, I'm moving towards sobriety while driving.
Will this make them stop spamming me for likes and referrals even though I'm a paying customer? Maybe they can even offer me that 6TB storage tier that I've been willing to pay for but only happens to people who spread the gospel and bring in referrals.
The tone around this company is too preachy and evangelical compared to other paid services.
- Are you sure you can’t opt out? The only stuff they send me is product news because I haven’t unsubscribed from that mailing list
  
  Great catch. It seems that since the last time I've turned off email subscriptions, they've added three more at the bottom: Drive, Pass, and VPN to individually deselect. So it's opt-in until I manually opt out. Additionally, this is inaccessible from the mobile or desktop app and I'm not sure it will turn off the top right advertising banner that shows up sometimes.

11 comments