Quote:Email service provider ProtonMail, praised for anonymity, shared climate activist's IP details with law enforcement, which led to his arrest by the French police. The company's founder and CEO Andy Yen claims they had no choice but to comply with a "legally binding order from the Swiss Federal Department of Justice."

ProtonMail, founded in 2013, hosts its servers in Switzerland and claims that user data is safe under strict Swiss privacy laws. With that in mind, many journalists, activists, dissidents, and others use ProtonMail to protect their communications.

No wonder that Swiss-based company's cooperation with law enforcement caused public outrage.

In August, it was reported that ProtonMail cooperated with Swiss law enforcement.  According to the police report, the French authorities were able to obtain the activist's IP address. ProtonMail claims it does not give data to foreign governments. French police sent the request via Europol to the Swiss law enforcement, which issued a legally binding order.

The law enforcement inquired about the climate action movement, which has been mostly protesting against gentrification. According to TechCrunch, police wanted details on a person who created the ProtonMail account, which the group used to communicate. Activists attracted media attention when they occupied the premises owned by Le Petit Cambodge - a restaurant targeted by terrorists on 13th November 2015.
In a lengthy post, Andy Yen stressed that there was no legal possibility to resist or fight this particular request and that he and his company sides with activists but will not do so by breaking any laws.

(09-08-2021, 05:51 PM)Party Pete Wrote: Sounds a bit bold to say their encryption methods are unbreachable.

(09-08-2021, 07:45 PM)Drako Wrote: Protonmail doesn't use real encryption. And I think most sensible knew this. True encryption means that nobody can read your emails except for you, since only you have the password. They also keep IP logs.

I'm just glad I've been gradually transferring all of my account and activity over to an alternate email provider.

(09-09-2021, 04:13 AM)mikelowrey Wrote:

(09-08-2021, 07:45 PM)Drako Wrote: Protonmail doesn't use real encryption. And I think most sensible knew this. True encryption means that nobody can read your emails except for you, since only you have the password. They also keep IP logs.

I'm just glad I've been gradually transferring all of my account and activity over to an alternate email provider.

Do you have any specific recommendation for an email provider?
I was going to setup my own server, but it might save me a lot of time going to a service.

ML

(09-09-2021, 05:02 AM)Drako Wrote:

(09-09-2021, 04:13 AM)mikelowrey Wrote:

(09-08-2021, 07:45 PM)Drako Wrote: Protonmail doesn't use real encryption. And I think most sensible knew this. True encryption means that nobody can read your emails except for you, since only you have the password. They also keep IP logs.

I'm just glad I've been gradually transferring all of my account and activity over to an alternate email provider.

Do you have any specific recommendation for an email provider?
I was going to setup my own server, but it might save me a lot of time going to a service.

ML

I would say CTemplar is your best option. When deleting an email it's instantly removed from their servers, they use real RSA-4096 encryption, and they're based in Iceland. They are an invite only service, but an invite is easy to obtain. You'll need to send them an email or a tweet to get an invite.

I would recommend cockli, but they're currently on invite only. You'll only be able to get an invite from an already existing user. I'm still looking for an invite myself. And their domains are less than professional.

(09-09-2021, 05:02 AM)Drako Wrote: I would say CTemplar is your best option. When deleting an email it's instantly removed from their servers