cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/60387352
cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/60387297
Proton Mail provided Swiss authorities with payment data for defendtheatlantaforest@protonmail.com — the account linked to Stop Cop City protests in Atlanta. The FBI obtained this information through a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty request on January 25, 2024, identifying the activist behind the anonymous account through their credit card identifier.
Im not a fan of proton, but this trend of blaming corps for individuals poor opsec (paying with a method linked to their real identity) is pretty lame.
Do people using these services actually expect a corporation to break laws or violate court orders on behalf of their users?
Proton regularly releases very clear info about how often they comply with legal orders, this isnt a secret and its certainly not protons fault that activists had poor opsec.
It’s not something you can avoid by simply not using a credit card. Proton can, at their discretion (such as if you use VPNs outside the imperial core, in which case it happens reliably and instantly) lock you out of your entire account to demand a phone number. Vanishingly small % of people will not have their personal identity exposed by cell data & be ready to deal with losing their account on short notice. It’s the same shady tactic that Discord uses to get phone numbers from reluctant people and it should not be tolerated.
It is probably illegal depending on your jurisdiction and Swiss laws.