Unnecessary and deeply concerning bow to the new “king”

Update: position got backed up by an official Proton post on Mastodon, it’s an official Proton statement now. https://mastodon.social/@protonprivacy/113833073219145503

Update 2, plot-twist: they removed this response from Mastodon - seems they realize it exploded into their face!

  • DegenerationIP@lemmy.world
    0·
    18 days ago

    What is a good alternative for Mail? I’m mostly for Proton because of Data security and Mail aliases. But this move is actually concerning.

    Yes, I know the background behind it.

    • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee
      0·
      19 days ago

      And then we have the communists making Lemmy. Is there any moderate developers lol. Valve is the only big company I can think of that isn’t annoying. All the faceless Linux devs are good too

        • huginn@feddit.it
          0·
          19 days ago

          They’ve been cooperating with law enforcement and handing data to the cops proactively since 2021.

          Pay attention.

        • Xamrica@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          0·
          19 days ago

          I wouldn’t call it “writing on the wall,” but they have done some not-so-good things over the last few years:

          1. Handing over data for their email services (which was legally required) (ref).
          2. Releasing a Bitcoin wallet. The problem for me is that Bitcoin is inherently not private.
          3. Lying in marketing. Proton claims “no data or speed limits” for their free VPN (ref), which is just plain wrong. If you download a few gigs, it will slow you down to a few Mbit (if I remember correctly). I even contacted their support about this, and they just said, “They are balancing the servers for the free VPN.” But then why was it fast in the beginning, and if I reconnected to the same server, would it be fast again. Just to be clear: I have no problem with the speed limit/balancing itself, just that they are lying about it.
          4. Proton incentivizing free email accounts to connect to a Gmail account to get 500 MB more storage. (You need to go through the “tutorial” steps to get the 500 MB extra, and one of them is to have a Google Mail account send all their emails to your new Proton inbox.)

          This is why I personally decided against Proton.

  • plixel@programming.dev
    0·
    19 days ago

    I literally just switched over from Google a few months ago and finally got all settled in. Just great. Does anyone know of any good alternative? I know Tuta exists, are there other options?

        • bobbyfiend@lemmy.ml
          0·
          19 days ago

          Imagine staying onboard with someone promoting nearly every horrible thing in our world just so you can have easier email access.

          • sudneo@lemm.ee
            0·
            19 days ago

            I mean, they showed agreement on one issue, which is obviously important for Proton and as a consequence beneficial for the general population (fairer competition with privacy respecting companies).

            • bobbyfiend@lemmy.ml
              0·
              18 days ago

              On the surface, yes. Look up Gail Slater and then decide if you really think she’s going to do anything about monopolies. Her career since leaving the FTC has been spent defending them.

              • sudneo@lemm.ee
                0·
                18 days ago

                The thing is, I don’t really care about her, I don’t know what she is going to do. My focus in this whole debacle has been mostly on making sure we are discussing about what was actually said. Anybody can have their own opinion on what she is going to do or not do, and it’s totally fine to have a conversation about that and dissent. They are speculation either way and fully opinable on both side, we can only wait and judge actions anyway. However, thinking that she is going to do well is not equivalent to be a Nazi by association, supporting Trump in general or anything like that.

                • bobbyfiend@lemmy.ml
                  0·
                  18 days ago

                  As a smart person said several years ago, “Context is everything and everything without context is a lie.”

  • archchan@lemmy.ml
    0·
    19 days ago

    Honestly I’ll still be using Proton and recommending it because it’s just good and a net benefit for everyone, but goddammit Andy you should’ve taken Swiss neutrality to heart this time and not said anything.

  • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
    0·
    19 days ago

    Standing up for the little guy. Huh. Is that why billionaires and CEO are throwing literal tens of millions at Trump? Why he staffed his cabinet with billionaires? Why the center of his policy is tax cuts for the giga wealthy, at the expense of everyone else and the national debt, at a time where wealth inequality is literally tearing the country apart?

    https://www.axios.com/2025/01/15/trump-windfall-fundraising-500-million

    https://www.axios.com/2024/12/09/trump-wealth-cabinet-politicians-billionaires

    These are objective, public facts. Like, I’m way more conservative than Lemmy’s center and willing acknowledge any good Trump does, but what reality is this guy living in? Who is this statement for? Who the heck does he think is using Proton services? He just pissed off his employees and customers for… What?

  • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
    0·
    19 days ago

    I see a lot of good discussion here. I’ve been on proton for years now, using my own domain. While true that Andy is one of 5 board members, and it’s a nonprofit etc, these statements are raising hairs on my neck, personally.

    Does anyone have a good guide on problems associated with self-hosting email?

  • tomatol@lemm.ee
    0·
    19 days ago

    Very disappointing that this is the CEO and founder of Proton. I’ll be moving my stuff elsewhere and deleting my account this week.