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Proton is taking its privacy-first apps to a nonprofit foundation model

arstechnica.com

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Re: Proton is taking its privacy-first apps to a nonprofit foundation model

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been with Protonmail since 2014. And I feel that they are essentially now the same as any other company which makes loads of dollar - they give up their values. Don’t get me wrong, I have multiple ‘Visionary Accounts’ but I have just no expectation of them protecting my data completely. How do they get peoples passwords / keys? Easy. They just wait for you to log in and they swipe it then. It’s targeted. They…

Besides, none of it really matters when their customer service backdoor lets you into an account if you can enumerate recent emails that account has received. I'd never trust anything serious with Protonmail. (Try it)

Do you have any evidence for this claim?

Here’s their recovery process: https://proton.me/support/set-account-recovery-methods

I don’t see there customer support call as a recovery method. I‘d expect that for paid accounts you could theoretically verify your identity to CS via payment, but in that case you lose the data anyway.

Re: Proton is taking its privacy-first apps to a nonprofit foundation model

#42
post #40
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about IKEA? It's smaller than Novo Nordisk, but they also use a non-profit parent company, which is admittedly a bit bizarre. My experience interacting with Novo Nordisk is that, in their case, this model has led to massive inefficiencies. The non-profit aspect has led to lots of internal politics and rigged hires. They are much more inefficient than a classical pharma.

> What about IKEA? It's smaller than Novo Nordisk, but they also use a non-profit parent company, which is admittedly a bit bizarre. Smells like tax evasion, but what do i know. Isn't IKEAs founder one of the richest people in Swiss?

Sweden is not Switzerland. And he died almost ten years ago.

Re: Proton is taking its privacy-first apps to a nonprofit foundation model

#46

Well this is only as strong as the makeup of the board! OpenAI has the same model. > Among other members of the Foundation's board is Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of HTML, HTTP, and almost everything else about the web. Well that's good news!

Yes. Though I'm having trouble imagining Tim Berners-Lee as an enforcer, able to keep a for-profit side in line, in a post-Altman boardroom.

(Whether it's slamming a rogue exec up against a pillar in a parking garage whilst cursing corrective instructions, or deploying his vast power to destroy his enemies from a distance, or whatever skills and resolve are required.)

Re: Proton is taking its privacy-first apps to a nonprofit foundation model

#47
post #42
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What about IKEA? It's smaller than Novo Nordisk, but they also use a non-profit parent company, which is admittedly a bit bizarre. Smells like tax evasion, but what do i know. Isn't IKEAs founder one of the richest people in Swiss?

Sweden is not Switzerland. And he died almost ten years ago.

He lived in Switzerland for over 40 years.

Re: Proton is taking its privacy-first apps to a nonprofit foundation model

#49

Reminder that Proton is not "private". They have all the keys, and willingly operate in a jurisdiction where they bend over backwards for ridiculous court orders. From their own transparency page: Number of legal orders: 6,378 Contested orders: 407 Orders complied with: 5,971 They did this to expose protestors and people who upset the powers that be, rarely real criminals. They could choose to operate in a country th…

I agree with you that Proton is security theatre. Even if they were truly benevolent, they ultimately control both the server and the client. It would be trivial to serve a special js to a specific user to capture their key. Nobody would ever know. But that part:

> HN has been overwhelmed with poor quality users and bots growing in the last few years. Same as reddit there are paid services used to manipulate voting. HN needs to migrate away from this in order for real discussions to return.

is absurd. Is it really the only way you can explain why you're downvoted? Could it not be because you've made several unsubstantiated claims?

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