this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2025
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Once again - Proton is legally obligated to comply with the laws of the country in which they are based. This isn't specific to Proton, and they are not going behind your back to do this. In case it's not clear, this data is directly from Proton.
Yeah, this is not really an own against Proton... There's other actual issues with the services and leadership that are more serious
The one comment by one person on the 5-person board who was supportive of one singular person that Trump had picked? That one?
I'm not a fanboy here. I just hate misinformation.
Yeah, but that person is the fucking CEO and not some random board member.
And thanked Trump for their effort against BigTech.
You hate misinformation but you sure know how to cherry pick.
If this government deregulated big tech any harder we'd be living in Cyberpunk
What's your motivation to downplay it, fanboyism?
Who said anything about downplaying? This is how law works. If you are a company operating in any particular country, you have a legal obligation to follow the laws of said country. And if that means handing over data because you were subpoenaed? Tough titties, cough it up. Or get arrested for failing to comply. And this includes your own data if you choose to self-host your own email.
Don't mistake me understanding the law for agreeing with the law.
You downplayed the positive remarks towards Trump by claiming it was "one of five" instead of a co-founder and CEO.
To give the full X post that you seemed to not be aware of when claiming "misinformation" through others;
(First sentence is what you've claimed people pull out of context) Great pick by @realDonaldTrump
The rest of his post was:
. 10 years ago, Republicans were the party of big business and Dems stood for the little guys, but today the tables have completely turned. People forget that the current antitrust actions against Big Tech were started under the first Trump admin.
Now if this is enough to dislike proton is up to debate, especially after their announcement back and forth afterwards. Claiming. Like you did, that it's "just praising the choice for one role by one of five board members" though ... Sounds like "downplaying" to me.
Whatever floats your boat, man.
Lemme put it this way:
If Greta Thunberg uses Proton, she's fucked.
Imagine the Orange government demanding some delicate data for some political or p~~r~~etty reason - should provider still comply? What if Chinese government does the same? Also I might be mistaken, but doesn't US force providers not to disclose the request to affected party, at least they can?
Believe it or not - when legally obligated, even providers like Google and Apple can and do comply.
See above. If a company is operating in China, that company (or branch) has to comply with the local laws. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if that was the case.
Proton is only required to provide the data if Swiss authorities request it.
It contradicts all of Proton's advertising... They continue to convey a different impression; even though they provide such data, they still advertise with certainty, etc...
Edit: I almost forgot... Back when this kind of thing was leaked (yes, leaked, not shared by them), I exchanged a few words with them (I am a customer, after all), and they denied everything and demanded proof... Nevertheless, I'm still with them because they're still among the least bad.
Is there any information about what kind of data they shared?
I'm sorry, but I'm not going to bother with this thread anymore or provide any sources.
READ THE THREAT MODEL FFS
I just want a low cost VPN to get around in-state censorship and the occasional bit of piracy. I'm not running a Wikileaks fork or trying to do OpSec for The Revolution.
If you're spinning up your own version of Silk Road, maybe consider a home lab instead of relying on untrusted third parties.
Mullvad
No it doesn't contradict their advertising. They've been completely open about this the entire time.
And they're not providing anything other than account details per the infographic. Account data remains encrypted
It's on you if you thought a business would break the law for you.
No, they weren't ALWAYS open about the issue (changed 2021). Aren't they advertising themselves as safe? That contradicts it! The right advertising would have been to say it's safe until the government comes... That would have been honest.
I'll go through my emails later and hope I didn't delete them back then. But now I'm going to lie down for a bit.
It is safe; your data is still encrypted. They only provide account metadata.
You're confusing privacy with anonymity.
Edit: and furthermore, Proton does have the ability for you to set up your account anonymously. You can use a burner recovery email and pay with Bitcoin.
Funnily enough, the answer is no longer available. I wasn't arguing against encryption. Rather, I was arguing against its occurrence. Although I don't trust Proton 100% not to have a key.
So, BTC is not anonymous, and buying it is linked to data. BTC is also nice in the blockchain. I always preferred Paysafe card, but you can't get that anonymously anymore either.
But now I'm particularly concerned that their response has disappeared.
But it was sometime around June 21, 2019, when it came out (I think because a US citizen was arrested.) that they were working with states. To date, they have not published this themselves.
Incidentally, I'm not saying that you shouldn't use Proton. It's still one of the best on the market, but you shouldn't blindly trust them.
At that time (begin of proton ), Switzerland was also still a haven for tax evaders, etc. Back then, they worked secretly with the government... There was no obligation yet.
ProtonMail removed “we do not keep any IP logs” from its privacy policy 2021 (at this time cause a french activist) 😊
Don't cry...
Cry about what, exactly?
That's the spirit!