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ProtonMail deletes 'we don't log your IP' from website after activist arrested

theregister.com

211–220 of 352 posts

Re: ProtonMail deletes 'we don't log your IP' from website after activist arrested

#211
post #193
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Australian, I absolutely appreciate knowing an online company is located somewhere that isn’t here.

Wouldn’t Australian law make them comply regardless if they want to do business with Austrians?

I don't think Australia cares what you do with Austrians ;)

Re: ProtonMail deletes 'we don't log your IP' from website after activist arrested

#212
post #34

Be careful when companies market themselves as Swiss or that due to them being located in Switzerland means there is some extra layer of security or privacy. Sure, it's a more stable country than many other countries in the world, but not much different from most EU countries for example. And privacy wise there is no difference. Be also aware of the fact that many companies market themselves as Swiss, but all it mean…

I remember being fooled by the whole "We're Swiss, isn't that great?" marketing at the beginning. It was disappointing, to say the least, when I learned that Switzerland is part of the N-eyes agreement(s).

Truth is that Email is almost a dead protocol now, anyway. As much as that hurts me to say. It was never able to meet the moment- PGP is complicated and easy to mess up, it's pretty damn hard to host your own Email server and not end up in everyone's SPAM or blocked, and if they person on the other end is using GMail, your shit's being read, analyzed, and archived anyway.

Email is going to be a business-only (as in "companies"/"corporations"/etc) protocol soon.

Re: ProtonMail deletes 'we don't log your IP' from website after activist arrested

#213

ProtonMail has an official TOR page, there hardly is a reason for those performing activities illegal under relevant jurisdictions (I support the notion of illegal non necessarily being evil - in many countries many good things like fighting corruption, loving a same-sex partner or responsibly using psychoactive substances for genuine medical reasons can be illegal) to use it the way exposing their actual IP address.…

Can be telemetry

Telemetry is evil. No company respecting their users should use telemetry.

Re: ProtonMail deletes 'we don't log your IP' from website after activist arrested

#214
post #22

The ProtonMail guys always said that unless they were 20 miles from the littoral, in the sea side, they had to abide by national laws. So it was bound to happen. What makes me sad is how flimsy their entire premise (not necessarily "promise") turned out to be: all it took was some minor rascal in France to hug the wrong tree (so to speak), and ProtonMail is in the open saying they can't even protect the IP address of…

The premise of "we'll never log your IPs" is something that no company can hold. - Local law enforcement can force the to do so. - Locals laws can change. - Guys with guns might barge in and demand it. Mostly, you can understand that they don't _intend_ to log IPs, and aren't in the business of collecting and redistributing data. But that doesn't mean you can count on absolute and unconditional secrecy.

Not just no company: no person can make such a promise. There is no one who is outside the reach of government power, should a government develop sufficient interest in that person's doings. The only way to really avoid this is to remain completely anonymous throughout the development process, and that's a tall order.

Re: ProtonMail deletes 'we don't log your IP' from website after activist arrested

#215
post #195
post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I understand it it is actually not a issue as they have strong enough privacy laws that EU have said good for it. Though when doing business with EU citizens they of course still have to follow the rest of gdpr. https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/inte...

It depends on the kind of data stored. Things critical to your national security or citizen data usually needs to be stored within EUs borders.

Unless I'm mistaken, you should be able to host the data inside the EEA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area).

While Switzerland is not a member, they do have special agreements for trade reasons so it might be okay to store data there.

Re: ProtonMail deletes 'we don't log your IP' from website after activist arrested

#216
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that the recent case involved a crime in France. So really, it's more like 'unless you commit a crime in a country that cooperates with Switzerland and the Swiss legal system decides to hand in a request'

Their actions were illegal in Switzerland too. As much as I can criticize France's recent actions against protesters, in this case, it's the Swiss justice system that ultimately decided to comply with the request.

Yeah, I understand that it was illegal in Switzerland, and the Swiss authority was not a passive participant, but your wording 'unless you commit a crime in Switzerland' implies that the crime itself is committed in Switzerland, not that it could be an action contrary to Swiss law in any cooperating country.

Re: ProtonMail deletes 'we don't log your IP' from website after activist arrested

#217
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think signal approach is the best. You can't be forced to turn in something you don't have.

https://xkcd.com/538/

That's good though, no? They're collecting the information from you. I know it's a joke, but it's the difference between watching my home insides without me knowing - and showing up to my home with a warrant.

Re: ProtonMail deletes 'we don't log your IP' from website after activist arrested

#218
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think there is a market for datacenters in open seas. Sealand's HavenCo tried it back in the 2000s. As it turned out, it didn't work well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HavenCo See: Death of a data haven: cypherpunks, WikiLeaks, and the world’s smallest nation https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/03/sealand-and-have...

I find Sealand fascinating. Imagine founding an off-grid location as a data haven, and it got popular. What would happen? I can see covert operations from foreign governments happening for example, driven by copyright lobbyists. Would they then need to hire security forces or train their own armed forces? Would it eventually join global political organizations to influence and protect its position? It gets really int…

US would threaten to attack unless they comply unless there's a other nation backing them. In which case they'd be beholden to them.

Re: ProtonMail deletes 'we don't log your IP' from website after activist arrested

#219
post #72
post #19

PM was a hoax from the start. Just talk to the Lavabit guy Ladar Levison or look up Crypto AG.

Surely the onus is on you to backup your statement calling PM a hoax .

They marketed themselves as a safe, secure platform away from prying eyes. As a platform for dissidents. Turns out it was bullshit (as many already expected).

Re: ProtonMail deletes 'we don't log your IP' from website after activist arrested

#220
post #34

Be careful when companies market themselves as Swiss or that due to them being located in Switzerland means there is some extra layer of security or privacy. Sure, it's a more stable country than many other countries in the world, but not much different from most EU countries for example. And privacy wise there is no difference. Be also aware of the fact that many companies market themselves as Swiss, but all it mean…

I remember being fooled by the whole "We're Swiss, isn't that great?" marketing at the beginning. It was disappointing, to say the least, when I learned that Switzerland is part of the N-eyes agreement(s). Truth is that Email is almost a dead protocol now, anyway. As much as that hurts me to say. It was never able to meet the moment- PGP is complicated and easy to mess up, it's pretty damn hard to host your own Email…

I agree in that, for me, e-mail is almost solely used for business communications and newsletters. However, I don't know of a "timeless", or otherwise decentralized, communication technology so ubiquitous that can be secured like e-mail. Signal seems to be the hip thing, but it's centralized. "Blockchain" communications, perhaps?
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