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Russia blocks ProtonMail

reuters.com

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Re: Russia blocks ProtonMail

#51

Post by this_user »

techntoke wrote: post #21
mayniac wrote: post #4

Generally speaking, the type of person who uses ProtonMail is also the type of person who will trivially bypass this block.

Not really, most people that use ProtonMail "heard" it was safe but aren't using VPNs daily and would probably struggle to find out how to incorporate it into their daily routine correctly with split tunneling. The smart people host their own email, not rely on someone else.

Unless you are literally operating your own servers in a location that you physically control, you are still relying on someone else.

Re: Russia blocks ProtonMail

#52

Post by Ragnarork »

bnt wrote: post #40
Vaslo wrote: post #30

"Roskomnadzor said that ProtonMail had refused to provide Russian authorities with information on the owners of email accounts allegedly associated with fake bomb threats." I know ProtonMail is denying they got requests but hopefully this is a good advertisement for their willingness to protect individuals.

And if those bomb threats proved right and people get killed? Would you still praise Proton for not working with Law enforcement?

This way of thinking will only ever displace the problem and not solve it. What mean is used to send these bomb threats matters little as the perpetrators can always shift to something else.

I mean they could literally just use a physical mailbox, a burner phone, etc., and you'd have absolutely no idea who sent it either and the problem would be the same.

Let's not even start with the implications of governments being able to access communications such as journalists and their sources.

Re: Russia blocks ProtonMail

#53

Post by abyssin »

fraktl wrote: post #47
bnt wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if those bomb threats proved right and people get killed? Would you still praise Proton for not working with Law enforcement?

I would. It's not Protonmail who's to be blamed for the potential attack and deaths. There are series of events that lead to people deciding to be terrorists. I'd focus on those reasons rather than hotfixing stuff by exposing 99.9% of other Protonmail users. I would never opt in to affect 99.9% of users because of 0.01% of users. We are all educated enough through events in recent history that clearly tell us how sim…

It seems you are writing two contradictory arguments. On the one hand you say hotfixing is no solution for terrorism. On the other hand you say blocking Protonmail is fine. Is there some irony that I missed here?

Re: Russia blocks ProtonMail

#54

Post by dmos62 »

StrLght wrote: post #20
mayniac wrote: post #4

Generally speaking, the type of person who uses ProtonMail is also the type of person who will trivially bypass this block.

Pretty much, but that isn’t the idea behind this block. Someone used ProtonMail to send a lot of different bomb threats to the police. Because of this block police now have some legal ground to ignore those threats.

Knowing how often Kremlin retreats to shaping public perception through theatrics, it's easy to think of the bomb threats as an inside job.

Re: Russia blocks ProtonMail

#55

Post by xiphias2 »

bnt wrote: post #40
Vaslo wrote: post #30

"Roskomnadzor said that ProtonMail had refused to provide Russian authorities with information on the owners of email accounts allegedly associated with fake bomb threats." I know ProtonMail is denying they got requests but hopefully this is a good advertisement for their willingness to protect individuals.

And if those bomb threats proved right and people get killed? Would you still praise Proton for not working with Law enforcement?

I never understood why police even accepts anonymous bomb tips. They should respond by requiring the person giving the tip to identify himself.

Re: Russia blocks ProtonMail

#57

Post by golergka »

xiphias2 wrote: post #55
bnt wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if those bomb threats proved right and people get killed? Would you still praise Proton for not working with Law enforcement?

I never understood why police even accepts anonymous bomb tips. They should respond by requiring the person giving the tip to identify himself.

A chance that an anonymous bomb tip will turn out to be true is very small. But it's not zero.

Now, for a second, imagine that it really happened. And you're the official who decided "no, we will not act on this". And this decision is in the records. Does this situation look good to you?

Re: Russia blocks ProtonMail

#58

Post by xiphias2 »

golergka wrote: post #57
xiphias2 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understood why police even accepts anonymous bomb tips. They should respond by requiring the person giving the tip to identify himself.

A chance that an anonymous bomb tip will turn out to be true is very small. But it's not zero. Now, for a second, imagine that it really happened. And you're the official who decided "no, we will not act on this". And this decision is in the records. Does this situation look good to you?

It's not the official who decides, it should be a general policy.

If you look at a similar case, in US. SWAT-ting can be anonymous and can destroy lives, the assymetry of the tips and the resources destroyed by a false tip is unacceptable.

The same way for a bomb threat, the officer should act by requiring identification and guaranteeing that it stays private as long as the bomb is real.

Re: Russia blocks ProtonMail

#59

Post by _jal »

vcavallo wrote: post #46
logfromblammo wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hang on, I need to call my peat guy, who assured me that one meter was sufficient. Also, you have to line that tank with shotcrete. Hosting locations matter when you are buying network-delivered services. Even if it is trivial to bypass for the user, this one time, jurisdictional risk to the provider is something that you have to consider as a factor when comparing competitors and self-host options.

indeed! and when a lot of people are talking about 'self-hosting' they're mostly talking about a VPS they rent from some provider who could vanish just as easily as Proton can. I'd like to see the numbers on how many self-hosting evangelists (I don't mean that term pejoratively. I think self-hosting is great) are actually talking about metal they physically control.

I can't tell where you want to draw the line. I personally have a couple physical servers in a cage. I do not own the data center in which they reside. Does that count?

If I don't "self-host", then neither does the corp I work for, with hundreds of machines in other people's DCs...

Re: Russia blocks ProtonMail

#60

Post by brianzelip »

Timpy wrote: post #3

I've been considering leaving Gmail for a privacy focused email service but it seems so difficult to switch. So many accounts and services have my Gmail registered, I don't think I could collect them all. Can anybody using ProtonMail (or any other privacy focused email) recommend it? I feel like choosing an email provider these days is as serious as choosing a bank.

It's been great. Only downside has been some small hiccups with saving drafts via iOS app. The web app seems to be the source of truth and always reliable.
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