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Protonmail Recommended Browsers

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Re: Protonmail Recommended Browsers

#101

Post by throw101010 »

shubhamkrm wrote: post #71
ridgered4 wrote: post #63

I was until recently using protonmail for throwaway email addresses for various web forums as it allowed a captcha verification during creation. Every other one I'd tried demands SMS verification these days, which is right out. But proton mail recently changed and requires SMS or another email now, I believe they say it is to combat bots. I tried tutanota but it refuses to create an account at all over a VPN, or at l…

If it’s really a throwaway (just a one time use for creating an account), I simply use 10minutemail.com

Many websites now refuse to create an account for you if your email uses a more exotic domain, or especially the domains used by the many temporary email address providers unfortunately.

Re: Protonmail Recommended Browsers

#102

Post by prepend »

proamdev123 wrote: post #66
robot9000 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple collects your browsing history, something which I have yet to find a good explanation for. https://apps.apple.com/zm/app/safari/id1146562112

That link is to Safari on iOS and it says that your browsing history may be collected but it’s not linked to your identity. Is it a privacy problem if Apple collects aggregate browsing history from iOS users? And is this relevant to a thread about desktop browsers?

I visit my HN comments page almost daily. There’s no way this can be anonymized away from me as the url contains my userid and can be linked back to me.

Even anonymized, data can be used in negative ways against me (eg, trying to alter my purchase behavior through ads).

Re: Protonmail Recommended Browsers

#103

Post by matheusmoreira »

Barrin92 wrote: post #40
openplatypus wrote: post #18

Why do privacy folks recommend Brave? Isn't Brave a commercial, ad serving entity?

yes. Brave is functionally sort of like a mafia protection racket. They just insert themselves between you and whatever you're browsing, block everyone else's ads, and insert their own. except their ads are supposedly the good ones, and they cut you in on it by giving you some of their made up token currency

> block everyone else's ads

Nothing wrong with that. Every browser should do that by default.

> except their ads are supposedly the good ones

You can literally turn them off. Only way for advertising to get better than that is to stop existing.

Also, if you do turn them on, they're the most benign ads I've ever seen. Basically a small text notification. Easily dismissed and ignored.

> they cut you in on it by giving you some of their made up token currency

They pay you in cryptocurrency for your attention. The idea was for people to spend those coins on the sites they like. I think the execution could have been better. Most people just amass a large amount of coins and exchange for other cryptocurrencies or USD.

It's not "made up". At the top of the cryptocurrency bull market, 1 BAT was worth almost two dollars. I've seen people with thousands of BATs just from browsing.

Re: Protonmail Recommended Browsers

#104

Post by tremon »

IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #4
keriati1 wrote: post #3

It's good to see Firefox on top of this list. Is Protonmail usually accessed through web clients? I only use native iOS client and MacOS Mail with the Bridge app. Somehow I would expect Protonmail users to not use the web client so much, maybe I am wrong.

Well... Protonmail happens to be the only e-mail provider that cannot fully be used as intended using just NMAP, because the core feature is its proprietary encryption and related features. So I would guess it's probably a singular outlier in having more web client users, rather than less.

Partly true: you can install a local IMAP gateway (Proton Mail Bridge) to access your inbox from normal MUAs. FAFAIK it supports all regular IMAP operations.

Re: Protonmail Recommended Browsers

#105

Post by jacooper »

edpichler wrote: post #54
k__ wrote: post #45

Switched from Firefox to Brave a few years ago and never regretted it. Ad blocker, IPFS, and Onion support out of the box is prett neat.

Plus the BAT (basic attention token) that I hope to become omnipresent in the web.

Unfortunately its really a centralized token.

Re: Protonmail Recommended Browsers

#106

Post by jacooper »

deepstack wrote: post #8

Why is safari/webkit not in there. It my understanding that it's the most privacy respecting browser in the area of finger printing.

Because brave/firefox is better, and its not based on the new IE engine(WebKIT) which is incompatible with anything that improves user experience to the point it competes with Mobile apps.

Yes its better than chrome, but its worse than anything which claims good privacy.

Re: Protonmail Recommended Browsers

#107

Post by tremon »

5350-uiop-1130 wrote: post #11

after wikileaks prism/nsa...it's really impossible for me to accept any kind of privacy assurances. it's like there are public laws and hidden "patriot" laws, and companies are not allowed to disclose those things. as a privacy company, if you haven't yet been raided by some government office, then you are probably compliant on some visible and invisible levels.

And let's not forget to add the Crypto AG story to that list.

Although I'm still naive enough (by choice) to trust a select few companies.

Re: Protonmail Recommended Browsers

#108

Post by phartenfeller »

ballenf wrote: post #97
bongobingo1 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All I remember brave for is some crypto nonsense, and looking at wikipedia it seems they were doing some kind of suspect "content creator payments" that were opt-out and not forwarded? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser)#Controvers... At the face of it, it sounds like they had a "Donate to platypus" button but you'd only get the donations if you knew to sign up with them on the back end? Gross.

It's opt-in for people to choose Brave over another browser. It's opt-in for creators to accept payouts. All the complaints mentioned in your link were resolved 2 years ago. Brave returns money to donators if the creator doesn't sign up within 90 days. And creators status with Brave is clearly prominent in the UI. The list of sketchy stuff in Chrome over the years makes Brave look saintly. And Firefox and even Safari…

Depends on the person. As someone who values the environment I don't want any crypto stuff in my browser. Totally not saintly for me.

Re: Protonmail Recommended Browsers

#109

Post by jacooper »

poetril wrote: post #88
wanderingmind wrote: post #84

As an aside, I'm looking to move to proton. Any feedback on how good and prompt is their customer care?

I've moved all my email to Proton over the course of the last year or so. Each interaction I've had with customer support as been great, resolving my issues usually same day as I've opened the ticket. Only two downsides in my mind is the lack of an iOS calendar app (its in closed beta atm) and twice since I've signed up they have suffered multi-hour outages that left me without access to email.

I have been using proton for more than 2 years now. These outages are rare, they haven't occurred for a long time, I think they are due to the new flood of subscribers after the new plans were revealed.

But In general it has been very stable.

Re: Protonmail Recommended Browsers

#110

Post by rpdillon »

Yizahi wrote: post #20
IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #7

Protonmail and Brave do indeed seem like a good fit. Two somewhat sketchy, very commercial outfits that market themselves as more private than the competition and that will gladly break existing standards and practices to so. They also seem to attract surprisingly similar groups of users, including a larger-than-chance overlap. Protonmail, in particular, seems to have become a sort of running joke as the e-mail provi…

Can you recommend a paid mail service which is better? I'm in a search process now, to ditch google as much as I can, and was leaning towards Proton services.

Happy Fastmail customer for 10 years or so. They are quite focused and do a great job. My only complaint is their mobile app: I wish it worked offline. I've used K-9 to work around this, but don't feel like I should have to.
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