In an unexpected mask off “secure” email and VPN provider Proton took the stance of siding with the fascist MAGA Reps. Proton’s services are no option for me and many others any longer. Let’s collect and discuss alternatives (E2E encrypted email and VPN) here 🔐👇

Always try to provide:

-Server location (jurisdiction)

-Governance

-Integrity/trustworthiness/transparency

-User experience/ease of use (grade 1 to 10, lets take Proton as a benchmark with an 8)

-Pricing and links

If you know alternative setups, feel free to share, too.

#ProtonExodus

Background: https://lemmy.ca/comment/13913116

Edit:typo

    • The Hobbyist@lemmy.zip
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      6 months ago

      Am I the only that don’t see this the same way as the rest? I am in way way endorsing or supporting MAGA, but they did take action against big tech (though for reasons of retribution) and I see Proton only acknowledging a good person being designated to lead the next antitrust efforts, apparently with a good track record.

      Proton also acknowledges Lina Kahn who has done a great job, nominated under Joe Biden.

      Ultimately, I feel like from a perspective of Proton, any win against Big Tech, is a good win, and I can’t disagree.

      There is a longer discussion to be had around how the dems were supported by oligarchs and I think that’s what Proton is referring to, they decided to turn a blind eye under the Obama administration for instance. Bernie Sanders goes to lengths about this in this interview, illuminating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzkgWDCucNY

      So all in all, maga sucks, new pick probably good, and in my view, proton not actually endorsing maga/trump but just acknowledging a good pick.

      Did I miss something?

      • Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        The main part of the message that pissed me off was the idea that GOP sides with the “little guy”. First, it’s demonstrably false. Second, he is a tech CEO. He wouldn’t recognise a little guy before his security crew has time to forcibly remove him.

  • marcie (she/her)@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    Truly unhinged that they decided to come out on this. Fellas, you are fucking Swiss why throw yourself under the bus for the US election

    • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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      6 months ago

      Because terrible people literally can’t help themselves. Wait for people to show you who they truly are, they will…

    • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I thought they were talking about the elementary particle—I was afraid we’d have to find some other way of manifesting our physical existence.

  • secretlyaddictedtolinux@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    If a car company in Germany complemented Hitler on his paintings, would it be still fine to buy their cars? And what if they were a really great car company and only mentioned how cool Hitler’s paintings were and nothing else?

    I sort of feel like if I am cool with Proton’s statement, then I also am cool with trans people and Latino people and Gazan people being treated poorly, and I’m not actually cool with that.

    It’s unfortunate, because despite Proton not accepting XMR and logging IPs when they promised they wouldn’t and doing other questionable practices, they have a lot of great services. But now, it’s like if I’m using their services, I’m sort of spitting on the grave of every trans person who ended their life out of shame, spitting on the grave of every dead Gazan who simply didn’t want to die, and being disrespectful to all the cool Latinos out there who have been degraded simply out of racism.

    :-(

    • yonder@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      Unlike a car which is bought once and is mostly outside of vendor control once you have it, Proton mail is a service that requires continuous trust in the company since they offer a service. This means I no longer trust Proton as much, which makes me much less inclined to use their services.

  • UntitledQuitting@reddthat.com
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    6 months ago

    This may sound drastic but really I think the only move for Proton is fire Andy. They’re a non-profit, the board need to step in. He has single-handedly cost the company both current and potential customers by just not being smart enough to keep his mouth shut. This makes him an idiot, and an idiot as CEO is not a good look (see: anything musk)

    • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Andy Yen really dropped the ball especially because he hasn’t done anything significant to really establish trust in his leadership and the biggest thing he does is tank the company image.

      Dude had the easiest job in the world — shut up, look smart, pretend to care and delegate. Instead, he jumps head first into left vs right of US politics on Twitter of all places 🤡

    • vga@sopuli.xyz
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      6 months ago

      I’m not going to change from Proton because of this, but what you’re suggesting is probably not a bad idea. CEOs are and should be easy to replace and mistakes like this are pretty standard reason why CEOs get booted.

      edit removed some rather incriminating, unverified claims about Andy Yen

  • Roopappy@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I’ve been doing research into this because I want to degoogle. Looking for hosted and secure Mail, Calendar, Drive… maybe docs if possible. I don’t mind paying as long as I’m a customer and not a product to be sold.

    My short list was: Mailbox.org, Zoho, and Notion.

    Then there are the services I don’t understand as much because I don’t really want to self host or step into server maintenance… NextCloud, OwnCloud, LibreCloud, OnlyOffice. Maybe someone could straighten me out with those if I’m off base.

  • HappyFrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    6 months ago

    I’ll still continue using proton, as I haven’t seen them staying from their goal just yet, but I’d love to see some alternatives non the less.

  • ziproot@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    Server locations: Riseup is in the US (Washington state), so keep that in mind. Disroot is in the Netherlands (part of the EU).

    Governance: Riseup: Look at their “about us” page. Disroot: Look at their “about” page. The terms of service are more detailed. tl;dr: As far as I can tell, these are run by leftists.

    Integrity/Transparency: I have no idea how to grade this.

    Ease of Use: Subjective. Riseup VPN is just: install the client, turn it on or off. Disroot is much better with a mail client of some kind, so if you already use one, it’s probably a 10, otherwise, the webmail server isn’t that great. Disroot also requries manual encryption (I’m biased here because I use Kmail which makes PGP really easy to use).

    Pricing and Links: Free https://riseup.net/en/vpn https://disroot.org/en/services/email

    tl;dr: Use collective-run services, not corporate-run services

  • Clbull@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    If they think Dollar Store Hitler is going to stand up for small businesses then they’re about to have a rude awakening.

    • 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it
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      6 months ago

      Tech bros aren’t exactly known for a nuanced understanding of whatever isn’t bleeps and blips: that’s what you get when the educational system is nothing more than a pipeline for employment

  • Timber@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    6 months ago

    systemli.org

    • Germany (I think)
    • Politically leftist
    • Very nice people
    • User experience 8, works fine and people put a lot of effort in
    • It’s free, but you need an invite code
  • vga@sopuli.xyz
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    6 months ago

    Apple has recently declared that they’re keeping their DEI programs in contrast to other tech companies, so I suppose Lemmy crowd would approve that? Their CEO being openly gay since 2014 probably works as some sort of a guarantee, at least as long as he keeps being the CEO.

    So I’ll suggest: Apple hardware + icloud. User experience (with apple hardware) 10/10. Pricing: Hardware price + monthly cost. Integrity: who knows, but they seem to deriving their income from their devices more than many other things.

    Monthly cost depends on geographical location and storage size, but in EU area per month:

    • 5GB is free
    • 50GB = 1 euro
    • 200GB = 3 euros
    • 2TB = 10 euros

    That storage and cost can be shared with up to 5 family members.

    I used this for a long time and it worked really really well. But it really does practically depend on having Apple devices, preferably on every level. I recently moved to Proton because I wanted to move to Linux, but I do miss the UX and reliability quite a lot. Icloud’s web service isn’t bad though but wasn’t good enough for me.

    • NekuSoul@lemmy.nekusoul.de
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      6 months ago

      If anything I’d say that the lesson to be learned from this should be the exact opposite: No company is safe forever, so you should choose based on how easy it is to switch.

      Chaining yourself to a single company all the way from the services you use down to the OS and even the hardware is only making it worse. Particularly when Apple is already aggressively anti-consumer on a lot of fronts.