cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/40877
Email is inherently insecure. If you want or need secure communications, that’s what software like Briar, Matrix, or Signal (yes despite some drama).
Secure emails can always be done manually with PGP and will be a lot hardier than trusting an organization that gives away subscriber payments to Western-backed coup attempts and color revolutions.
This is the PR version of Protonmail. While this could theoretically been a worst case outcome, they could have taken this to court and I believe the Swiss legal system might have ruled in their favor as using terrorism laws against non-violent activists is IMHO a clear legal over-reach of the French police.
That said, yes hiding their IP would have been better, but why do you think using the VPN by the same company would have helped at all? The VPN provider also knows the IP of the connecting users.
Commercial VPN providers have proven time and time again to not be trustworthy. From VPNs handing over IPs they swore they didn’t have, to that one VPN getting hacked and the hacker leaking data they pinky promised they didn’t log, to the very real possibility of some VPNs being government surveillance honeypots. Using a VPN would very likely not have saved the environmental activist in question. Tor/Tails/Whonix might have, but when the Western State is this hellbent on ruining you because you undermined their capitalism/imperialism, you’re likely screwed no matter what/
Now if only they spent this much effort to catch rich sex offenders and not people who simply give a shit about the future of humanity on this planet.