ProtonMail Gives IP of Climate Change Hoaxer to Police

[kittenstormer]

Originally published at: ProtonMail Gives IP of Climate Change Hoaxer to Police | Infostormer.com

ProtonMail which has sold itself as an email service with privacy and anonymity features, is now logging IPs of users and has even provided the IP of one of its users to police.

RT:

A French climate activist has been arrested after the private email service ProtonMail cooperated with authorities after a court ruling, logging details of a user before providing it to the police to identify a French citizen.
On Monday, Andy Yen, the founder and CEO of Proton, the company behind the Swiss email provider ProtonMail, published a statement saying that he deplored the way legal tools had been used to bring about the arrest of a French climate change activist, but claimed his service was still secure.

“In this case, Proton received a legally binding order from Swiss authorities which we are obligated to comply with. There was no possibility to appeal this particular request,” Yen wrote.

The data was requested as part of a wider investigation into the occupation of a number of Paris flats and commercial properties by climate activists. While attempting to remain anonymous, one of the activists had used the address “[email protected]” in online postings.

NEW – @ProtonMail has updated its "privacy policy" and may now log IP addresses of users breaking Swiss law.https://t.co/TIFqGwCqNi pic.twitter.com/JmWjD7gC1q

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 7, 2021

ProtonMail received a "legally binding order from Swiss authorities" which they are obligated to comply with, according to a statement released by the encrypted email service.https://t.co/VjftBszNQF

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 7, 2021

This climate change hoaxer sounds like an idiot, but ProtonMail should not have provided his information to police. Especially when their entire brand is based around privacy and anonymity.

Shortly after Charlottesville happened and I got kicked off of numerous services, I signed up for a ProtonMail account out of necessity and they temporarily blocked access to my account after people complained that I was a Neo-Nazi. They restored my access after people complained, but I knew then that they were not going to be a reliable company.

Sure, they are a step up from Google Gmail, but not by a whole lot if they’re doing this to one of their users.

I don’t think there is any one single service you can 100 percent rely on for anything in this environment. The entire tech industry is corrupted, with some companies being much more corrupt and evil than others.

[dick_fitzinwell]

This is sad news… really wanted to like this company and this idea of secure email. Glad I did not donate to them, almost did. I mean I don’t agree with most of what a climate change activist has to say and I think it’s funny they gave his IP to police, but regardless I cannot trust them now. If the police or agency requesting your IP address is not from Switzerland will they give out your IP, maybe not, but do you want to take that chance. Well at least they are free but its just email and expected to be free nowadays.
Yes there are few if any alternatives. Only thing you can really do is use a VPN with confirmed no logging AT ALL TIMES and that’s a huge pain.
You know if a company says to have complete privacy how would you know anyway they could be doing anything behind your back, logging you, reporting your IP to anyone that asks or says they are a cop on the phone, etc.
Disgusting loggers, ugh.
Thank you for this info.