I’m trying to get rid of my Google dependency and one of those steps was moving over to Protonmail. Now in the past few days i have been picking up signals that even Protonmail is not as clean as it might be.
Does this really impact the privacy of how i use email and so is moving to Protonmail a step forward from Google, or is Protonmail just as bad?
If so, what could be alternatives?
edit:
Some of the alternatives being mentioned in the comments are:
Email:
VPN:
edit 2 (2023):
There seems to be some new activity around this post. At the time of writing the post (2 years ago) there were some stories going as user @UnfortunateShort described in their comment. This made me question the best options available at that moment. Currently i am still a Proton user, using their Mail and Calendar service, and Mullvad for VPN.
I’d argue that this:
Is demonstrably false, as their encryption methods for emails at rest as well as other options (PGP) are tested. They’re also upfront with their threat protection model ("the ProtonMail threat model document specifically states that, “we cannot guarantee your safety against a powerful adversary.”) and as far as coming from Google or another free provider is concerned are a definitive step in the right direction. A good overview if OP is interested is this writeup here: https://www.techspot.com/news/82776-protonmail-review-secure-email-really-secure.html
Personally I’d be hesitant to recommend self-hosting email unless really necessary (since that has it’s own risks/threat model) and think OP would do well to start off with Tutanota or Protonmail.
As an aside if we’re alluding to Protonmail being a honey pot with the Hong Kong riots I’d rather see it stated as such; this is the second place on Lemmy I’ve seen such criticism levied when a company that has a privacy/security based product and did a statement on the protests and I don’t find it that suspect that they would be interested in furthering their brand or “putting their money where their mouth is” by coming out in support of anti-censorship/CCP measures.
support for the riots is not “support of anti-censorship”. it had nothing to do with censorship. a brief summary of how things began:
it was never about being censored. it was about wanting to continue to exploit others without consequence.
protonmail didn’t just “come out and support” the color revolution by merely making a statement. i’m not making the assertion that their support means that they are a honey pot. i am asserting, however, that their support means that, unlike their claims, they are decidedly not “pro-freedom” (unless, of course, their definition of “freedom” is getting away with murder).
Taiwan later criticised the government of trying to strong arm the citizens with the bill and withdrew their extradition request.
Proton’s support of the what the riots turned into isn’t tainted by what sparked the controversy in my opinion.
I’d agree with you that it’s about wanting to continue to exploit without consequence, though I’d say were talking about different parties doing to exploiting.
Link for those interested in a news recap: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-50148577
Taiwan withdrew the extradition request of the murderer of a pregnant woman for the sake of politics? That’s messed up.
edited: the first part of my comment was irrelevant to the true matter at hand so it has been removed
and in my opinion, this actually makes it worse. because then it becomes them promoting a blatant misrepresentation of hong kong in support of a color revolution. this means those deciding to fundraise are openly supporting the interests of the US government. which makes them less trustworthy, not more.
the argument could be made that they saw how many westerners ate up the propaganda around the situation and wanted to capitalize on it. i think that is a fair argument. but them being money-hungry makes them less trustworthy, not more.
I’d much prefer you to source your claims especially when refuting others, we simply don’t agree on this matter (though I do like reading a different side of things) - I appreiciate the discussion though all the same!