Joseph CoxNew from 404 Media: Proton Mail, the privacy-focused email service, gave authorities data that let the FBI unmask an anonymous 'Stop Cop City' protester. It was payment data linked to the anonymous email account. From that, FBI ID'd them, then tracked their movements https://www.404media.co/proton-mail-helped-fbi-unmask-anonymous-stop-cop-city-protestor/
Kow
Troed Sångberg@josephcox All companies follow the law where they are incorporated. Proton makes it very clear that they will hand out information if the Swiss legal system presents valid documents requesting it.
The headline "Proton helped FBI" is unnecessarily inflammatory. You can do better.
@troed @josephcox is the headline wrong though? For a company touted as not in league with the three letter agencies, this just disproves their advertising.
@troed @josephcox interesting take
Alexander The 1st@troed @josephcox I didn't realize the FBI was Swiss - does that mean ICE should deport them to Switzerland?
Yeah I think 404's headline here is absolutely appalling.
Another word would simply be "untruthful".
@troed @josephcox They did help.
They could have stonewalled and taken it to court, given the nature of the information, given that the Swiss legal system is there.
Again, far as I can tell, the FBI aren't the Swiss legal system, so they could have (And arguably should have) fought this request for billing information. That they had the billing information and not, for example, an Irish-domain Stripe token for a given transaction, is still worrying.
@AT1ST The weren't responding to FBI but a valid Swiss judicial request for information.
That's why the headline is wrong.
@troed @josephcox ...The point is they didn't do any pushback because the Swiss judicial system was acting as a go-between for the U.S. investigation system.
"This wasn't a routine investigation. Swiss authorities determined that the legal threshold was met because a law enforcement officer was shot, and explosive devices were found during a protest in 2024. Switzerland has one of the strongest legal frameworks for privacy in the world, and its standard for granting international legal assistance is exceptionally high. This case met that standard. "
https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1rlt75p/comment/o8xtkgt/
The keyboard warrior purity tests are quite lame.
Adrian Sanabria@josephcox anyone know a good alternative for Proton? Their products are so good, it’s painful seeing them cave to this sort of stuff.
Or is this already the best option, and the reality is just that the best option also sucks for reasons?
James Zimmerman@sawaba @josephcox
Tuta is competitive with Proton. Hosted in Germany.
Not sure if it would have helped in this situation.
Tuta is competitive with Proton. Hosted in Germany.
Not sure if it would have helped in this situation.
Dan S@sawaba @josephcox tuta.com
xrvs@sawaba @josephcox i’d say if you’re organizing you should avoid emails altogether
TudbuTfor communication: rigid identity separation and using @delta
for the rest: your best bet is not using cloud stuff at all and keeping an encrypted usb stick with you instead. if you need cloud separate it entirely from any potentially criminal or disliked activity
dmi 💽 @tudbut @josephcox @sawaba they asked for an alternative e-mail provider (among other things). you gave them a chat application that works on top of email. i don’t think that’s especially helpful
i specifically said “for communication”; i know this is not email.
@domi @josephcox @sawaba and in terms of anonymous email, it might actually be more safe to create a burner email with some free provider, because that way they dont have your payment data
@tudbut @domi @josephcox @tudbut I found it helpful, thanks for sharing! Never heard of Delta, going to check it out
EveyPN@sawaba Plenty of alternatives, proton is mostly just good with the marketing, but depends a bit on your requirements. Mailbox.org, soverin.com etc and a bunch of others also exist.
nanas@sawaba @josephcox
Radical tech collectives
https://help.riseup.net/en/security/resources/radical-servers
Radical tech collectives
https://help.riseup.net/en/security/resources/radical-servers
tekhedd@josephcox If you pay for a privacy service with a credit card, well, duh? Companies can't really say no to their governments.
Dave "Wear A Goddamn Mask" Cochran 
@tekhedd @josephcox pretty sure proton's not US-based, so the FBI wouldn't really be "their" government
@dave_cochran @josephcox no, but governments have these sort of agreement thingies. I'm sure a quick search will turn up, well, 30 pages of AI hallucination completely unrelated to your search terms, but geeksplaining it here is obviously not the answer.
@tekhedd @josephcox fair point; i'd kinda assumed that the current political ....situation here in the US would have caused many/most/all of those to dissolve but I've been wrong before
@dave_cochran @josephcox Well I mean, those law enforcement types generally consider themselves to be in a sort of giant worldwide fraternity...but you're right I'm sort of surprised anybody is willing to talk to us at this point. (Yeah, I said "us." This year is the most embarrassed I've ever been of my country SO FAR.)
Taran Rampersad
refraction 
@tekhedd @josephcox they can and do all the time. just not when it comes to your interests, only their own.
kantorkel@josephcox It was payment data linked to the a̴n̴o̴n̴y̴m̴o̴u̴s̴ email account. 😅
virkon@kantorkel @josephcox IIRC you can pay cash
@virkon42 somehow @protonprivacy forgot to highlight the need to pay cash in their articles on anonymous e-mail
@protonprivacy could you just unlink payment data when the payment is done?
Mïkê 💚 👑🐉🗡️🏳️⚧️@virkon42 @kantorkel @josephcox Last time I checked, you couldn't. You may be thinking of Mullvad VPN.
@mikelovesbikes @kantorkel @josephcox
https://proton.me/support/payment-options
They take cash. Mullvad as well
https://proton.me/support/payment-options
They take cash. Mullvad as well
MarkAssPandi@josephcox GOD FUCKING DAMMIT
@josephcox I can't read the article without handing out personal data to someone...
So I will wait for the Proton response...
😉
knowuh@josephcox email is inherently broken.
Andy Gates@josephcox "Swiss company obeys Swiss court order. News at 11"
Serge Droz@josephcox this is bad journalism, an I expect better from 404. A Swiss company has to comply with requests from Swiss law enforcement. That this request was caused by an US MLAT request is irrelevant.
So now I'm disappointed by 404, not Proton.
Mans R@sergedroz @josephcox > I expect better from 404.
This is exactly what I've come to expect from that lot. I don't understand why people keep fawning over them.
404 Story not found
quotequack@josephcox has to be said þey did not give þe information to þe fbi but raþer þe minimal obligated information to þe swiss auþorities who þen partnered wiþ þe fbi to forward þe information