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ProtonMail takes aim at Google with an encrypted calendar

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Re: ProtonMail takes aim at Google with an encrypted calendar

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exact behavior of Google are we talking about here? I'm pretty sure they do mine emails for their own ad targeting. On the other hand, I'm equally sure they handle the information securely and don't pass it on to anyone else.

> I'm pretty sure they do mine emails for their own ad targeting. They do not. See https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6603?hl=en "We will not scan or read your Gmail messages to show you ads."

> "We will not scan or read your Gmail messages to show you ads."

that reads to me like ""We may do it for other purposes."

Re: ProtonMail takes aim at Google with an encrypted calendar

#122

I moved over to Fastmail from ProtonMail a few weeks ago. I think if you value the encryption and privacy and don’t mind the lack of basic stuff like threading in the mobile app or IMAP integration, ProtonMail is fully worth it. That said, for me I just want a well featured email/calendar service that can replace gmail once Gewgle fucked us over with Inbox. Fastmail does that for me and provides a lot less friction w…

They have IMAP, you just have to install a program they call the bridge. I use the Linux version that's still in beta and have had no issues with it so far.

Re: ProtonMail takes aim at Google with an encrypted calendar

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm pretty sure they do mine emails for their own ad targeting. They do not. See https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6603?hl=en "We will not scan or read your Gmail messages to show you ads."

> "We will not scan or read your Gmail messages to show you ads." that reads to me like ""We may do it for other purposes."

They obviously do, as does every mail provider that filters spam, at a bare minimum.

Re: ProtonMail takes aim at Google with an encrypted calendar

#124

I recently left ProtonMail and went back to Fastmail. My reason was that they will never be able to fully support IMAP and now CalDAV because of the encryption they use. I grew to accept that email is not for secure messaging and my paranoia of "I'm being watched" just went away. If you need secure messaging, use something other than email.

for personal use, maybe? but for business use, you need email security

Re: ProtonMail takes aim at Google with an encrypted calendar

#125
post #89
post #61

If one doesn't care about web access to their calendar is there any recommended encrypted calendar apps to use on an android device as the default calendar app? Does setting a default calendar app to something other than the calendar on ROM actually prevent calendar data from leaking to third parties?

EteSync[1] has been around for a few years now. It's fully open source and offers secure, end-to-end encrypted, and privacy respecting sync for your contacts, calendars and tasks. Sounds like what you're looking for... [1]: https://www.etesync.com/ Disclaimer: I created it.

it's based on davdroid / davx5 ?

Re: ProtonMail takes aim at Google with an encrypted calendar

#127
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't write https://latacora.micro.blog/2019/07/16/the-pgp-problem.html (the writing is too good, a giveaway that it's a 'tptacek joint) but I did review it and helped shape its contents and generally subscribe to its message :) In particular you are correct, and specifically GPG's MDC thing is some weird nonsense that does not deserve to be in use in 2019, let alone being in a product that describes itself as hav…

Setting aside the technical issues for a moment, your last point is interesting to me. One of the things that bugs me about security/privacy discussions is the rampant paranoia and misinformation, and it tends to be the louder voice in the discussions lately. I have to wonder if Protonmail being such a visible figure means that it attracts people who're inclined to fall under the aforementioned. i.e, the people who u…

When I decided to ditch google a while back I considered switching to proton mail. Their marketing resonated with what I was looking for. After some thought I realized that email is fairly insecure by design. Even if proton mail fixed all of the security issues associated w/ email it all goes out the door the moment I communicate with a non-proton-mail address. Almost all of my friends and family use gmail, and most of the volume of email I receive comes from businesses. For my usecases, proton mail is basically security theater.

What's worse, proton mail makes many dubious claims. They claim that "All emails are secured automatically with end-to-end encryption." This is clearly false. They state that "ProtonMail's infrastructure resides in Europe's most secure datacenter, underneath 1000 meters of solid rock." Ok, cool, but how does that benefit me? The emails are already end-to-end encrypted (but not really). Am I expecting commandos to raid a datacenter and steal my encrypted emails? They say that "Our story begins where the web was born, at CERN." Again, who cares?

End-to-end encrypted email is not on my list of must-haves (or even on my list of wants). When I need a secure communication channel, I use Signal. Proton mail overstates what they provide, and they spend a lot of effort on frankly useless security measures.

Re: ProtonMail takes aim at Google with an encrypted calendar

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with most of what you have written, but this: > doesn't mean I want Google getting a free pass to mine and sell my data. AFAIK, they don't do that with gmail. Do you have any evidence to the contrary? We need to hold Google's feet to fire on privacy, but it is also important that we do not exaggerate or distort the facts.

> AFAIK, they don't do that with gmail. Do you have any evidence to the contrary? What evidence do you need? They got close to 1 trillion dollars because of abusing mined data and you expect they don't do that with gmail? Google is an evil company focused on profit. Only an idiot wouldn't sniff people's mails if they can. We know idiots don't get trillions.

Please don't post unsubstantive comments and/or flamebait to HN. Discussion here needs to be a lot better than this

Re: ProtonMail takes aim at Google with an encrypted calendar

#129

I recently left ProtonMail and went back to Fastmail. My reason was that they will never be able to fully support IMAP and now CalDAV because of the encryption they use. I grew to accept that email is not for secure messaging and my paranoia of "I'm being watched" just went away. If you need secure messaging, use something other than email.

Fastmail doesn’t offer phone support for paid users.

I have an account with them and spent months troubleshooting a carddav sync issue with my two Mac computers before giving up and switching contacts over to iCloud.

Proton mail seems pretty hungry for business. I inquired for a paid plan and they follow up all the time with sales people who have unique email addresses.

Re: ProtonMail takes aim at Google with an encrypted calendar

#130

I recently left ProtonMail and went back to Fastmail. My reason was that they will never be able to fully support IMAP and now CalDAV because of the encryption they use. I grew to accept that email is not for secure messaging and my paranoia of "I'm being watched" just went away. If you need secure messaging, use something other than email.

Did you try this? https://protonmail.com/bridge/ Or did it not work for you?

I did. It’s slow. Also, it’s not available on iOS.
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