this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2025
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Privacy

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In an unexpected mask off "secure" email and VPN provider Proton took the stance of siding with the fascist MAGA Reps. Proton's services are no option for me and many others any longer. Let's collect and discuss alternatives (E2E encrypted email and VPN) here 🔐👇

Always try to provide:

-Server location (jurisdiction)

-Governance

-Integrity/trustworthiness/transparency

-User experience/ease of use (grade 1 to 10, lets take Proton as a benchmark with an 8)

-Pricing and links

If you know alternative setups, feel free to share, too.

#ProtonExodus

Background: https://lemmy.ca/comment/13913116

Edit:typo

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[–] Charger8232@lemmy.ml 65 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (11 children)

I will continue to use Proton and their services, not because I support or endorse any political decisions from the CEO/board members (and I don't), but because they provide open source, secure, and private software that I love.

This is no different than arguing about using GrapheneOS based on the behavior of the maintainers.

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[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 99 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (49 children)

Misinformation. OP is advocating that you shoot yourself in the foot.

The CEO said something silly on Twitter which revealed either that (a) he shares an exceedingly banal opinion with literally half of America or (b) he's not above a bit of preemptive sycophancy to advance his (positive) anti-trust agenda.

There's nothing particularly scandalous in the offending tweet:

  • Implying that the Democrats are now "the party of big business" is arguably true (and very boring)
  • Implying that the Republicans now "stand for the little guys" is dumb but also arguably true, unfortunately - the working classes swung to Trump in the recent election while the Democrats are fast becoming a party of high-earning elites (which is why they lost)
  • Saying that the antitrust actions began under Trump I is, well, true

Proton is not owned Zuck-like by its CEO. It's controlled by a foundation with other stakeholders on the board, including the inventor of the Web himself. In its niche it is still by far the best option. Ditching it for a nebulous non-existent alternative because the CEO expressed a dumb and extremely commonplace opinion is just silly and self-defeating.

PS: to be clear, OP is peddling misinformation because it's not true that "Proton took the stance" of anything. It's the personal opinion of the CEO that's at issue. It's a major distinction. I find it disappointing that people interested in privacy would have such little respect for a private individual's right to have their own thoughts.

PPS: to be extra clear, my comments are about the post above, not stuff that people are reading elsewhere. But the substance stands. See discussion for detail.

[–] mean_bean279@lemmy.world 99 points 1 day ago (6 children)

I love how you’re claiming misinformation while posting misinformation. It’s not the CEO, it’s a board member. That said, the company also officially posted these ideas on their Bluesky account.

This isn’t a “CEO” expressing a belief, it’s the board, and now the official company line.

I’m not disagreeing with their post particularly on corporate dems, but this is a company and not a persons sole belief.

Also, if dems are the party of big business then why are all these big businesses donating to Trump? Does that just mean republicans are the party of even bigger business?

[–] conicalscientist@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Their bullet points are spin-doctoring.

Also the comment got a few dozen upvotes almost immediately. Suspicious.

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[–] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 69 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (15 children)
  1. It isn't misinformation.

  2. Someone like this board member being a traitor to his species isn't covered by "opinion". No normalizing nazis. It's such a low bar. He couldn't clear it.

  3. He blasted his treachery over the public airwaves. His privacy isn't being violated.

This whole comment feels like an exercise in using all the best words to miss the point. We know, as does this probably-lying board member, that Republicans are only going to go more authoritarian, and the only reason they would pretend to care about big tech abuses is to grab the steering wheel from them to commit far worse abuses. No company that gets into bed with traitors is going to become the new center of my digital life.

Tuta for email, syncthing for photos bc I'm not self-hosting, mullvad for VPN.

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[–] Not_mikey@slrpnk.net 35 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Implying that the Democrats are now "the party of big business" is arguably true (and very boring)

While true in some scenarios, in anti-trust Lina khan's ftc has done significantly more than trump ever did. Biden keeping her over the protest of countless business execs and daily articles in the wall street journal on how she's ruining America shows some commitment to prosecuting big tech.

Meanwhile, trump's anti-trust moves were mostly based off petty issues he had with the ceos or the platforms having a "liberal bias". Now that every big tech ceo has fallen in line and given him $1 million for his inauguration I doubt we'll see much movement on that front.

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[–] swordgeek@lemmy.ca 96 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Wow!

Of all companies, this is one I didn't expect.

Damn.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 62 points 1 day ago (3 children)

the good news is this is a lesson to never trust any entity whose role in the world is to accumulate capital

[–] __nobodynowhere@startrek.website 4 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

There is absolutely no way to verify any of Proton's privacy claims. Why should I trust one for profit company over another?

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[–] sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 45 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Why would this be unexpected?

Proton already handed over the IP of a climate protester to authorities several years ago, while boasting that they had a no log policy.

https://therecord.media/protonmail-forced-to-collect-an-activists-ip-address-in-police-investigation

Every time, in the past few years, that I bring this up, everyone just acts like I'm setting an impossible standard and no alternative exists.

Proton has been shady for years.

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[–] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 96 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Phew! For a moment I thought you were talking about the steam compatibility thingy.

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[–] Siathes@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Sooo, can we not create and/or finance our own? Please be gentle…but…is there not enough of us paying for proton and other privacy apps to fund a floss or non-profit version? I mean there are tech nerds all over this place, along with law nerds and political nerds…etc..(meant with love btw) that would have an instant user base.

I pledge here to sub up to $15usd/month for any lemmy person that starts an entity that provides us with what we need with ethics and morality of lemmy common.

[–] IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (5 children)

You need a domain with enough reputation to not just get immediately flagged as spam, or sites outright refuse letting you use the email because they detect the domain as "invalid".

I feel like this is an infinitessimal part of the problem.

As in... to make a proton substitute you need a similar level of resources. If you have those resources then domain reputation would be a snap.

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[–] ShotDonkey@lemmy.world 29 points 22 hours ago (4 children)

OK I think I will move to Posteo. Great security, privacy focussed, servers in Germany, running with 100% renewable energy. Prices are ok, too. Ticks all boxes.

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[–] avieshek@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago

Just looking for a free alternative..

[–] TCB13@lemmy.world 20 points 21 hours ago (4 children)

This is amazing. People were perfectly okay with ignoring all the red flags in Proton and their products and really okay with buying all their bullshit, then a tweet saying Trump comes up and that's it. lol

[–] RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 28 points 21 hours ago (4 children)

🤷 sometimes people grumble quietly until a final straw is added to the stack. Not surprising.

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[–] MrRazamataz@lemmy.razbot.xyz 13 points 19 hours ago (4 children)
[–] from_D4rkness@lemmy.world 19 points 18 hours ago

From what I recall, the red flags included stuff like giving the IP away of activists, having access to private keys while claiming e2e, and taking more info than they claim. I am busy atm, but i can find some links to sources when I get a chance.

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[–] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 29 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

Tweet is from early december. Why is it blowing up now?

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