"This weekend, news broke that security/privacy-focused anonymous email service ProtonMail turned over a French climate activist's IP address and browser fingerprint to Swiss authorities. This move seemingly ran counter to the well-known service's policies, which as recently as last week stated that "by default, we do not keep any IP logs which can be linked to your anonymous email account.""

https://arstechnica.com/inform...ress-to-authorities/

Was he under investigation before they gave up his prints.

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
Was he under investigation before they gave up his prints.

I think the moral of the story is that Proton's previous policy stated that they do not keep IP logs, when in fact, they do, as demonstrated by turning the logs over to the authorities. So now, they've changed the wording of their privacy policy. They were misleading their customers.

Well damn. I’m a paying customer. Who does the secure email gig better??

Jim

Yeah, that won't affect their business at all.

There are VPN services which make the same claim, but I'm certain they're telling the truth.

BTW- "climate activist"? Does this mean he was a typical "global warming" loon, or was he someone trying to actually speak the truth about all that nonsense?

**edit**

Never mind, I see it.

If it is digital it is NOT secure. It’s naive at best and leaning more towards foolish to trust any company that claims to be secure and/or value your privacy.

It's not secure even if you don't send it.

They called me mad! MAD! But now, VINDICATED!!

(inside joke)

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
If it is digital it is NOT secure.

It can be if you use your own mail server and open source email client apps

A recent comment from Protonmail:

In a blog post titled "Important clarifications regarding arrest of climate activist," Andy Yen said the company "can be forced to collect information on accounts belonging to users under Swiss criminal investigation. This is obviously not done by default, but only if Proton gets a legal order for a specific account."


ProtonMail now explicitly spells out that it will be forced to log users' IP addresses if found in violation of Swiss laws — "By default, we do not keep permanent IP logs in relation with your use of the Services. However, IP logs may be kept temporarily to combat abuse and fraud, and your IP address may be retained permanently if you are engaged in activities that breach our terms and conditions (spamming, DDoS attacks against our infrastructure, brute force attacks, etc). The legal basis of this processing is our legitimate interest to protect our Services against nefarious activities. If you are breaking Swiss law, ProtonMail can be legally compelled to log your IP address as part of a Swiss criminal investigation."

The way I read it, the Swiss gov now requires this logging to be done. And all will I suppose. Comes down to it, I think technology will always have a fingerprint. TOR will be private until we find out TOR nodes throughout the world are compromised and logging. Bitcoin will be .gov independent until we find out they've legislated the heck out of it, and muted the effective use of it. Cars will go 100MPH until the .gov nails up 55Mph signs and hires guys to hide behind billboards with ticket pads.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
If it is digital it is NOT secure.

It can be if you use your own mail server and open source email client apps

Possibly true, but not certainly true. Depending on the following factors in order of importance.

1. "They" don't specifically decide they want access to your systems.
2. You do a superb job of firewalling and patching.
3. One of the millions of hackers and cybercriminal organizations doesn't happen upon your systems with a true zero day.

All that said, I agree with you, that rolling your own at least eliminates thee ability to just decide to have a look at your "bidNess", and then to do so.

I always go on the assumption that nothing I type on my keyboard is secure.
Even if it is today, it won't be tomorrow.