"Privacy is important, so you can follow our latest updates exclusively on the platforms that don't give a shit about privacy"
this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2025
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Privacy isn’t particularly good in the fediverse. Any federated instance can track you as much as they want without you ever knowing or consenting.
Self hosting Lemmy is straightforward. Then subscribe to all communities and now you have a treasure trove of data to mine. If you modify the code a bit you can do more like keep deleted posts around or surveil user activities in real time.
That's not what privacy means. Mastodon is incredibly transparent that everything you do publicly is public - the threat model is very clear here.
Also you can't compare public tool used for tool interactions to a suite of private tools that is Proton or any other service.
Finally if all of the data is available public for anyone to access this means it's not exclusive to bad actors like ad machines, government spies etc.
Exactly. The Fediverse is transparent to all the bad actors and they don’t even have to pay for access.
If you post something publicly on a clearly public platform and expect people not to collect or look at your explicitly published information then that's really on you. No amount of privacy or protection can help you at this point.
Only if you use privacy as the opposite of public. "Privacy", though, generally refers to counter/non-surveillance. It's not surveillance to be able to access data that you explicitly publish publicly.
Sure, but at least the fediverse doesn't try to fill your browser of ads and tracking cookies
TBF, they push the same content via their email newsletter.
On a platform, that will ban you if you look at it wierd
Moving all my shit across Outlook to Proton took forever, I swear I'll shoot a mf if I have to move email providers AGAIN
I was subconciously always thinking "man, imagine if Proton screws up some day and all the people who switched to it have to switch away, that would suck" but didn't think it would actually happen, but man, with enshitification, it's actually possible lmao
Nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives
due to limited resources
Either:
- We have lost our password
- Our C and V keys are broken and we can not copy paste our social media messages anymore
It might be the Control key which broke.
Proton can now officially go fuck themselves.
First, their CEO supports Trump. Then this, ditching Mastodon in favour of nazi-Twitter. Proton is not safe anymore and people need to migrate away ASAP.
Was it ever? I ditched them years ago when they tried to gaslight people that e2ee in javascript in browser is secure.
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"We hate that our CEO keeps getting called out and slammed by our followers so we're gonna stick our fingers in our ears"
Also good time to remind everyone Tuta exists :) https://tuta.com/
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Since I have found it historically hard to engage on this (broader) subject around here, just yesterday I put together my own thoughts at https://loudwhisper.me/blog/proton-fediverse-burnout/
Personally, I did not see the value of their Mastodon presence, it was write only marketing communication, no engagement with the community anyway. That happened only ever on Reddit, which I think is going to continue being the case.
They push the same info via email newsletter, if someone really wants that stuff.
Either way, the post above covers my take on the whole drama, not just this last small chapter.
Read your entire post. You claim people will say you come off as an apologist and you do.
As a person who was seriously considered switching to Proton this just reminds me of why I should not. It is clear no matter what corner of the Internet we run to as long as it is into the open arm of corporations it is a mistake.
Blue sky, Proton, etc. are not a solution to a problem. They are just the newest version of putting lipstick on a pig. We need to move beyond corporate control and it is clear Proton, even being a nonprofit, is no solution.
I find your hand waving of the CEOs position particularly distasteful. There are a lot of CEOs out there that don't decide to get all political. They don't do this because they have an image or brand to protect. Maybe I just like a good illusion though.
In this respect I am glad he opened his ignorant mouth and showed he has no business commenting on politics. He is no political scientist, just another person drunk on his accomplishments trying to pretend he knows fuck all about anything.
Thanks for the response, despite the fact we disagree quite substantially.
I think it's OK that different people have different points of view. Everyone's opinion also should fit within a broader (political) praxis and strategy that they support.
There are a lot of CEOs out there that don’t decide to get all political. They don’t do this because they have an image or brand to protect. Maybe I just like a good illusion though.
This is something I particularly disagree, as you probably have already read. Ignorance on once's position doesn't mean that position doesn't exist. I appreciate Jeff Bezos for example writing that memo (just yesterday's published), compared to acting the same way without my full knowledge.
He is no political scientist
If this was the criteria to comment on politics, honestly we should shut down everything (including Lemmy) :)
Your don't really have much of opinion except as an apologist. A devil's advocate defender of corporate and political nonsense without stating your actual thoughts beyond, "it is more nuanced that that" is pretty disingenuous.
It is okay to have differing opinions when someone's opinion smells like shit. All the while you pass out the verbal/written clothespins is really just your version of carrying water. I know, I know it is more nuanced than that. Only it really isn't.
And yes, you should have a degree or really just some critical thinking skills before deploying your wanna be political commentary on the world when you are in a leadership position. Otherwise please keep that shit to yourself and keep it out of your business if you ever want my money.
I felt that was really uncalled for. The whole post elaborates quite a lot in thousands of words, and I feel like your summary is not really accurate. Unfortunately, I have no way to debate accusations that follow a circular logic, so I won't attempt to do so.
Otherwise please keep that shit to yourself and keep it out of your business if you ever want my money.
I reiterate that I find curious that you seem to prefer ignorance of those positions, as if the reality is suddenly better if you don't know a problem exists. You would rather pay for Proton not knowing that Andy Yen thinks what he thinks than having more information so that you can choose to stop paying. Obviously just an example, same thing applies to the WaPo or Tesla, or any other similar case.
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Does this have anything to do with the CEO expressing his support for Trump? I can't imagine how, but there are some odd decisions being made at Proton lately.
Almost certainly, yes.
People on Mastodon are not happy about those statements, and called Proton out on it relentlessly with every post Proton made. This is Proton running away with their tail between their legs, back to platforms where they have more control and/or are already full of right-wing nutjobs.
If anyone's looking for secure email, look at tuta.com instead. The email service is very similar in terms of UX and offers better encryption. They don't offer the rest of Proton's suite, but...maybe that's a good thing? I mean, do you want to get locked into an ecosystem?
..."the reality is that Republicans remain more likely to tackle Big Tech abuses."
Like doge having our social security and Treasury wallet+keys? >.>
He can suck my ass and nutts.
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Their damage was already done with that CEO statement (for me), since after those remarks I cancelled my VPN plan with them. I'm not someone who's going to then follow them around and post negative comments on their Mastodon, X, reddit account whenever they post. I'm just going to walk away.
So, they will move to where their base is, just like trump did and they can sell there stuff to a smaller percentage of the market if they want. I will never understand why a company would actively try to cut their sales base in half or whatever.
They also can't control the narrative on Mastodon like they do on Reddit and Lemmy through "volunteer mod" Nelizea. I'm glad I quit using them — they are becoming tech bro chuds (or maybe always were but just hid it better)
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Btw, their Mastodon account has more followers than their Bluesky and Threads accounts combined, both of which they are keeping. What a stupid decision.
It's not stupidity; it's censorship. They can control what gets posted on their own Reddit community. They can't control what people are actually saying on the fediverse.
People need to realize that Proton has gone to the shitter; stop paying for them and migrate away as soon as possible.
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Fuck Proton.
Lmao that second paragraph. This guy is not just a tool, he's the whole toolbox.
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If Proton does not refer to the Steam's Windows adapter layer for Linux, I don't care.
Damn, reddit, really? That sucks 🙁
Proton just dropping the ball over and over again these days. That's why I'm working on migrating from their sevices, then deleting my Proton account.
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