- cross-posted to:
- world@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- world@lemmy.world
A court record reviewed by 404 Media shows privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to the Swiss government, which handed it to the FBI.
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“Helped” is a curious choice of words, they can’t ignore court orders just like any corporate digital services provider.
I can’t tell if this was a “just because we wanted to” or a “court order” kind of handing over.
Proton Mail has been very clear that it complies with the law, but does everything it can to have as little data as possible to turn over when it is legally compelled to do so. This is a non story.
However, when my Protonmail subscription is getting close to being up, I’ll be shopping around because Andy Yen loves Donald Trump.
Im pretty sure it was a court order
If about to fight City Hall, best to pay only in cash and never tie up online accounts with actual personal identity.
All of the responses to this story seem to emphasize the legality of the court order, but that highlights the risk of the modern era: governments acting unethically, immorally, and leveraging the law to forward those goal. And if business will always capitulate, then ultimately they are an extension of that state authority - not a servant of the customer.
In the end, privacy becomes a brand, but not a reality.
The thing turned over was payment data. IE receipt that just says “yes there is a record of this identity purchasing a full account.”
So not really Proton snitching but the activist having poor opsec in how they purchase digitally (namely you should not. Even Mulvad VPN advises that since for tax reasons purchase activities have to be recorded)
Paying with a credit card means there is a payment trail back to your identity there.
Proton does allow you to pay with anonymous methods, a credit card is by no means required
Poor OpSec for sure here.
I see credit card, pay pal and Google pay? Which is anonymous?
Edit I see, seems to be available after account creation, described on its payments page
You can buy a Visa card with cash from the grocery store. Or better yet, have someone in another state buy it and send it to you so if that card can be traced to a location, it’s not yours.
If you had already purchased in the past before you learned good opsec when it comes to purchases, are you just fucked then?
Depends how far back we are talking. But a safer solution is assume whatever you purchase via card is unsecure
