this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2024
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Proton now attempting to make users link their Google account (media.kbin.social)
submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/protonprivacy
12 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I guess their new free plan changes means they force you into linking your account with Google, make you spam done on a million websites as they try to make you change the email associated with them and to use their mobile app.

If you don't do these things you lose your free data allowance!
And as a paid user it's even more annoying shit to deal with when visiting your inbox!

The best part? Doesn't even allow you to dismiss it.

Why does Proton keep making the UX worse and they are getting more aggressive.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

This might just be a bug. Impacting paid customers too. See below.

https://reddit.com/comments/1axhsfv/comment/kro14ta?context=3

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I setup a new free account for my partner about a month and half (maybe 2) back and it wasn’t this aggressive.

Interesting to see this change in approach.

edit: just seen this is a cross post of the original

[–] tester1121 1 points 8 months ago

You don't need to use a google account at all, you can just use any IMAP account through Easy Switch in the settings. (It even works with empty email accounts for some reason too)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Interesting that I just saw comnents the other day espousing Proton. Shame to see it go this direction based on those comments, but now I consider it could always have been a paid shill as corporations learn to mimic grassroot campaigns to control messages and set narratives. It'd be nice to see laws moving in that direction.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's a bug, they confirmed it was a bug, and it affects paid customers, too. Don't jump to conclusions.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Why would a company dedicated to privacy concerns even entertain connecting to Google? I would imagine the customers using Proton would leave services that don't value privacy, so why is it being invited back in? Seems like Proton may be changing which customers they value while holding onto name recognition. Enshitification continues.

Sounds like a shady deal with Alphabet for a financially struggling company that may or may not have a board which decided they liked money better than their customers one day.

Don't let people tell you that "everything's fine, don't jump to conclusions". I have no idea who that is or if they have a stake in this outside or a random Lemmy user, but I would imagine a lot of people would have a financial or other interest in ensuring the public continues to think Proton is safe and private.

Be willing to question and verify. Don't be complacent.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

To encourage people to migrate, it's par for the course.

They don't communicate anything back to Google, they just import from it, set up mail forward and suggest that you can set up the accounts you're familiar with with your proton email (which you can do with any email account, without Google having any access to your emails). You're reading way too much into this.

If you're that paranoid, don't trust any private company with your information and run your own private mail server.

[–] chaotic_disorganizer -3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

yup. I'm also annoyed you cannot deactivate the email account once it has been activated. I don't need it and now it keeps spamming my main mail account with dumb reminders and basically proton ads

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I mean....

How to delete your proton account: https://proton.me/support/delete-account

How to turn off notification email that there is mail in your proton account: https://proton.me/support/notification-email

Don't like "basically proton ads" emails? Just unsubscribe.

[–] chaotic_disorganizer 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

thanks for that second one. but the first one doesn't really help since I'd like to keep the VPN service. this worked fine without a proton mail before, but now deleting the mail account would also delete the VPN account

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If it's a free VPN account why not just create a new one that doesn't have a proton email attached? Assuming they let you do that.

[–] chaotic_disorganizer 1 points 8 months ago

it's not free. i got the paid version