I’ve been using Proton Mail and VPN for a while now, and I’m just wondering how everyone else feels about them. I have this kind of inherent alight distrust of them just because they seem like they offer a lot for free and kind of have a Big Tech vibe about them, but there’s nothing for me to really substantiate that distrust with, its mostly just a feeling. That being said, I do use their services as mentioned and they work pretty well, even on the free teir. So aside from that one instance where they gave that guy’s info to the feds, is there any reason not to trust them with my data?
Proton used to have a deal with the Israeli company
Radware, for DDoS protection. They have written a few disclaimers about how Radware only handled incoming traffic still with two encryption layers intact (SSL & OpenPGPjs), as if that was some sort of real protection if a company has access to raw incoming traffic.Honestly, a company aimed at privacy, boasting of Swiss privacy, should know better than to route anything through Israeli companies.
I don’t completely trust any “privacy-focused” company, but I trust proton a lot more than most others.
‘So aside from that one instance where they gave that guy’s info to the feds, is there any reason not to trust them with my data?’
They were under a court order. They still have to follow their country’s laws.
That is not to say you shouldn’t question them, but that particular example should not be used.
If that person had better opsec it never would have been a thing.
Yeah I think most people confuse privacy with criminal behaviour. Proton has your back when it comes to the former, but they aren’t there to enable you to pirate or cause trouble, hiding behind their service.
I don’t see how making sure criminals are brought to justice is the same as protecting your anonymity on the net.
And even if mandated under law, it’s not like they actually log your travels and are handing that to law enforcement. Whatever they hand over still falls under their services guidelines. It’s not like they are handing over logs of your travels to the FBI.
“Criminals” such as climate activists?
The service could not appeal because a Swiss law had actually been broken and because “legal tools for serious crimes” were used.
Yep under Swiss law he was a criminal, we may not agree with the law but unfortunately that’s the case here
Yeah I would trust them. But I don’t think I would use them because I just find their mail service to have too much friction in a lack of interoperability with clients unless you not only pay money, but also download a whole extra program just to decrypt your email. It’s essentially a walled garden
I do not trust any company, even if it is “privacy-friendly” or “anonymous”. There is no way to proofe this, sure I could view the code but there might just be a slight possibility that the company is saving and stealing your data.Self-Hostinmg is for me the way to go.
more than google at least
Yeah i trust them more than the alternatives.
Let’s say that I trust Swiss laws more than other alternatives.
They apply only to Swiss citizens.
seem like they offer a lot for free
i gladly pay for proton knowing that i’m helping fund a critical tool for activists under oppressive regimes :)
For my threat model and use case, I trust them.
Actually… this is the only internet privacy company that I trust. I just hope that they start to deliver new products and apps faster… especially on Android, so that we can de-Google our lives as much as possible.
Based on my own privacy/security criteria, I chose and payed for protonmail when that was the only thing Proton had. I’ve been very happy with them and it’s nice to see how much they’ve since popped off.
more than google
No, mainly because they’re pumping out too many services. Also free VPNs just sound really sketchy to me.
Ill get straight to the question: what should i use? I use proton currently but they are pretty sus.
Tutanota is nice and a bit cheaper too. A bit limited in features compared to proton but I still like it.
Do you trust Proton?
For starters, such a question is coming at it from the wrong perspective. One should have trust in the software – if such sowtware is, indeed, trustworthy – and not in the entity that created it. If one seeks privacy, then they should be of the mindset that every entity is malevolent.
Lol no. Are you going to audit all the code you use ? You need to trust some organizations to make the audit. You NEED to trust some entities
