The ProtonMail Android app is now open source • Hacker News Board

Re: The ProtonMail Android app is now open source

#41

Post by frodprefect » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 5:58 PM UTC

dyingkneepad wrote: post #27

_eigenfoo wrote: post #5

ProtonMail seems to be on a roll this month. They both released Bridge for Linux [1] and open sourced Bridge [2]. [1] https://protonmail.com/blog/proton-bridge-linux-launch/ [2] https://protonmail.com/blog/bridge-open-source/

Oh, bad timing. Just a few months ago I was on the fence about Protonmail vs Fastmail (vs all others) and ended jumping to Fastmail: the privacy pro didn't seem to outweigh the cons. Now with open sourcing stuff the pros do get somewhat better... But reevaluating and switching would be troublesome.... Maybe in a few years I'll revisit it :)

The pricing is very different. Fastmail allows unlimited domains where proton is almost double the cost for two.

Re: The ProtonMail Android app is now open source

#42

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 5:59 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: The ProtonMail Android app is now open source

#43

Post by zenlot » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 6:02 PM UTC

Marketing move. They've been on a downfall due to relations to Tesonet. Now started open sourcing their apps to restore reputation.

Re: The ProtonMail Android app is now open source

#44

Post by pixxel » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 6:06 PM UTC

zenlot wrote: post #43

Marketing move. They've been on a downfall due to relations to Tesonet. Now started open sourcing their apps to restore reputation.

I missed this. What’s the deal here?

Re: The ProtonMail Android app is now open source

#45

Post by pixxel » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 6:16 PM UTC

bflesch wrote: post #22

ProtonMail/VPN are great products, but after the Crypto AG fiasco I suspect it is another CIA front. We'll find out in 50 years.

I missed this. What’s the fiasco?

Re: The ProtonMail Android app is now open source

#46

Post by stjohnswarts » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 6:31 PM UTC

frodprefect wrote: post #41

dyingkneepad wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, bad timing. Just a few months ago I was on the fence about Protonmail vs Fastmail (vs all others) and ended jumping to Fastmail: the privacy pro didn't seem to outweigh the cons. Now with open sourcing stuff the pros do get somewhat better... But reevaluating and switching would be troublesome.... Maybe in a few years I'll revisit it :)

The pricing is very different. Fastmail allows unlimited domains where proton is almost double the cost for two.

Does fastmail offer encrypted server side email though?

Re: The ProtonMail Android app is now open source

#47

Post by gruez » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 6:32 PM UTC

Foxboron wrote: post #7

Cool. But neither the audit nor the repository explains if it's possible to create the APK in a reproducible way. Google Play distributed APKs contain their signatures, so in theory it wouldn't be possible to 1:1 reproduce the distributed ones. However for F-droid this would allow them to sign their own APKs and provide some additional security guarantees in their supply chain. Also a bit concerning that there is no…

>Google Play distributed APKs contain their signatures

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...

>Note: Using app signing by Google Play is optional. You can still upload an APK and manage your own keys instead of using an app bundle

Re: The ProtonMail Android app is now open source

#48

Post by stjohnswarts » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 6:32 PM UTC

aaronscott wrote: post #15

I'm happy to see ProtonMail getting exposure. I moved over from gmail about a year ago, and have been quite pleased with their service. Only downside I've seen is that there isn't a clear way to increase available data storage, independent of other billable line items (like number of users etc). Other items on my wish list would be more customizable email filtering, I'd love to be able to create filters such as 'is t…

to get more storage you have to buy a higher priced account.

Re: The ProtonMail Android app is now open source

#49

Post by uallo » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 6:33 PM UTC

pixxel wrote: post #44

zenlot wrote: post #43

Marketing move. They've been on a downfall due to relations to Tesonet. Now started open sourcing their apps to restore reputation.

I missed this. What’s the deal here?

Apparently an unfounded smear campaign against ProtonMail:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonVPN/comments/8ww4h2/protonvpn...

Re: The ProtonMail Android app is now open source

#50

Post by bflesch » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 6:36 PM UTC

pixxel wrote: post #45

bflesch wrote: post #22

ProtonMail/VPN are great products, but after the Crypto AG fiasco I suspect it is another CIA front. We'll find out in 50 years.

I missed this. What’s the fiasco?

"Crypto AG was a Swiss company specialising in communications and information security. It was secretly jointly owned by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and West German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) from 1970 until about 1993, with the CIA continuing as sole owner until about 2018.[1] With headquarters in Steinhausen, the company was a long-established manufacturer of encryption machines and a wide variety of cipher devices."

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_AG

Basically they were world's leading manufacturer of encrypted phones & fax machines for military use and it was revealed that they were controlled by German and US intelligence all along.

My suspicion for ProtonMail is only that it's too good to be true: A small amount per month to solve all my privacy/confidentiality needs w/o really inconveniencing me? I'm in!