Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address • Hacker News Board

Re: Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address

#61

Post by acheron » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 9:20 PM UTC

istingray wrote: post #26

Protonmail customer here. Sigh. This is why I keep my own domain and can point it wherever I need. Dear Protonmail, email is fucking cheap and easy, I pay you $58 a year to solve stupid shit like this. Vendors really need to figure out how to thread the needle of "No don't trust us" but still encourage customers to buy. Protonmail failed here. Apple's still very much in the "trust no one but us!" vibe, and it's just…

Where “this” in “solve stupid shit like this” is “hide you from police with a legally authorized warrant”?

If you were relying on Protonmail to conceal evidence of criminal activity for you, you may not have thought that all the way through.

Re: Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address

#62

Post by aborsy » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 9:20 PM UTC

COGlory wrote: post #37

Disclaimer: I have a ProtonMail account that I pay for. I have seen a ton of disturbing pieces about ProtonMail. Every time I've looked into them, they seem to be maliciously motivated and usually not true, or otherwise twisting of the truth. This has been a confusing thing for me because why is there a small subset of people so vehemently against them? In this case, I'm not surprised. They say quite clearly they can…

>> What the authorities can't do, is read that person's email.

What if authorities ask, serve this user this malicious JacaScript code to obtain their encryption key?

PM has to obey and the result is the same.

Re: Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address

#63

Post by mytailorisrich » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 9:20 PM UTC

keewee7 wrote: post #34

Why is a "Climate activist" being arrested?

In this case it seems that they are a far left group that has decided to squat a restaurant for good old 'class struggle' reasons and vowed not to back down...

It also seems that it is not any restaurant but one of the 'victims' of the 2015 terrorist attacks [1]

Basically political extremists trying to disguise themselves as environmental activists. Not interesting people, to say the least.

[1] https://www.tellerreport.com/news/2021-01-04-%0A---justice-o...

Re: Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address

#64

Post by cedws » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 9:21 PM UTC

COGlory wrote: post #37

Disclaimer: I have a ProtonMail account that I pay for. I have seen a ton of disturbing pieces about ProtonMail. Every time I've looked into them, they seem to be maliciously motivated and usually not true, or otherwise twisting of the truth. This has been a confusing thing for me because why is there a small subset of people so vehemently against them? In this case, I'm not surprised. They say quite clearly they can…

I am also paying for ProtonMail.

They come off as a very dodgy company willing to twist the truth themselves. They claim that they can provide E2EE for email, being careful not to give away the fact that this is impossible for regular emails to non-PM customers.

Frankly I only use them because they're the biggest "private" email service and that provides a kind of safety in numbers.

Re: Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address

#65

Post by freshhawk » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 9:21 PM UTC

keewee7 wrote: post #48

mikl wrote: post #30

I guess there isn’t much Protonmail can do if the prosecutor shows up with an ~Interpol~ Europol warrant. I wonder what this “activist” did to earn himself Europol attention. At least before the world went insane, that would only happen for serious crimes.

The Climate Action youth movement is sometimes explicitly anti-capitalist in a very "direct action" way. Vandalising banks is stupid and also an efficient way to make powerful people dislike you.

Probably the movement to squat in empty buildings and organize more of the same in response to pandemic evictions, that's been getting the kind of attention its very dangerous for left wing groups to get.

Re: Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address

#66

Post by polote » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 9:22 PM UTC

COGlory wrote: post #59

polote wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The end result is the same either way

No, if they were not collecting logs by default, then it is clearly not false advertising.

So the default is when nobody ask for the logs? What the point of not collecting IP unless for the time it is useful?

Re: Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address

#67

Post by skarz » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 9:23 PM UTC

We know that PM saves all kind of metadata and happily provides it to any kind of agency. You have to use an anonymous VPN service (obviously not ProtonVPN) in combination with ProtonMail, if you want to avoid exposure by PM.

ProtonMail lost it's essence to be honest. As soon as my subscription runs out I'm gonna host my own mailserver instead. There are no advantages in using ProtonMail snymore.

Re: Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address

#68

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 9:24 PM UTC

keewee7 wrote: post #48

mikl wrote: post #30

I guess there isn’t much Protonmail can do if the prosecutor shows up with an ~Interpol~ Europol warrant. I wonder what this “activist” did to earn himself Europol attention. At least before the world went insane, that would only happen for serious crimes.

The Climate Action youth movement is sometimes explicitly anti-capitalist in a very "direct action" way. Vandalising banks is stupid and also an efficient way to make powerful people dislike you.

[deleted]

Re: Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address

#69

Post by rakoo » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 9:25 PM UTC

gigel82 wrote: post #18

So with FastMail under Australian privacy-bashing laws and now this, what are our options for secure, private e-mail?

For this specific issue, find a provider that can be accessed through Tor.

But if you want truly private and secure communication, you'll have to forget about email. Even with encryption there's still way too much metadata floating around that can identify you.

Re: Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address

#70

Post by BrandoElFollito » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 9:25 PM UTC

ficklepickle wrote: post #39

mikl wrote: post #30

I guess there isn’t much Protonmail can do if the prosecutor shows up with an ~Interpol~ Europol warrant. I wonder what this “activist” did to earn himself Europol attention. At least before the world went insane, that would only happen for serious crimes.

The terrible crime of squatting, according to some comments in that thread

Has your home in France been squatted? No? Or maybe you do not own a house in France?

If so, on which basis do you ironically call squatting a "terrible crime"?

Squatters in your house in France means that you you have zero rights on this place until a lengthy process gives it back to you, ruined. You are then expected to be grateful and can forget about any reimbursement from the poor people who stole your property.