I’m surprised and very disappointed. First time hearing about this. Spread the word! I wonder if privacyguides has updated their recommendations based on this news.
Surprised and disappointed that a Swiss company must comply with Swiss law?
There is no company that will refuse to comply with the authorities of the country they are headquartered in.
Proton and similar privacy focused companies at least do as much as they can to have as little data to share as possible. The emails, for instance, are not data that Proton can share no matter how insistant the law is.
But the metadata of the account? Like the credit card you decide to pay with? That’s not encrypted and it’s absurd to think that a company will refuse to comply with the law of their country.
This is months old and was all over reddit and Lemmy. Basically the days handed over complied with Swiss law, not US iirc. So it was minimal at best.
Actually nvm the article explains it clearly,
Thanks to Proton Mail, they were able to get that information, though it’s fair to note that this was a somewhat convoluted process. In order to get the information, the FBI used a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, or MLAT, to ask the Swiss justice department to request the information from Proton Mail. As Proton is based in Switzerland, it had to give the requested information to the Swiss authorities, who then passed it on to the FBI.
“We want to first clarify that Proton did not provide any information to the FBI, the information was obtained from the Swiss justice department via MLAT,” said Proton AG’s head of communications, Edward Shone. “Proton only provides the limited information that we have when issued with a legally binding order from Swiss authorities, which can only happen after all Swiss legal checks are passed. This is an important distinction because Proton operates exclusively under Swiss law.”
Because the Proton Mail account was paid for by credit card, Proton AG was able to provide the payment identifier, which could then be used to find the card’s holder, leading to an arrest for alleged trespassing. However, 404 Media does not name the person in question as they do not seem to have been charged since.
“We want to first clarify that Proton did not provide any information to the FBI, the information was obtained from the Swiss justice department via MLAT,” said Proton AG’s head of communications"
I know this is vpn not email but seems to be some sort of PR.
https://www.androidpolice.com/privacy-focused-proton-mail-handed-over-protester-data-to-police/
Mail is of course logged and has to be handed out. But they can’t necessarily decrypt it
I’m surprised and very disappointed. First time hearing about this. Spread the word! I wonder if privacyguides has updated their recommendations based on this news.
https://proton.me/blog/climate-activist-arrest
Surprised and disappointed that a Swiss company must comply with Swiss law?
There is no company that will refuse to comply with the authorities of the country they are headquartered in.
Proton and similar privacy focused companies at least do as much as they can to have as little data to share as possible. The emails, for instance, are not data that Proton can share no matter how insistant the law is.
But the metadata of the account? Like the credit card you decide to pay with? That’s not encrypted and it’s absurd to think that a company will refuse to comply with the law of their country.
This is months old and was all over reddit and Lemmy. Basically the days handed over complied with Swiss law, not US iirc. So it was minimal at best.
Actually nvm the article explains it clearly,
Thanks to Proton Mail, they were able to get that information, though it’s fair to note that this was a somewhat convoluted process. In order to get the information, the FBI used a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, or MLAT, to ask the Swiss justice department to request the information from Proton Mail. As Proton is based in Switzerland, it had to give the requested information to the Swiss authorities, who then passed it on to the FBI.
“We want to first clarify that Proton did not provide any information to the FBI, the information was obtained from the Swiss justice department via MLAT,” said Proton AG’s head of communications, Edward Shone. “Proton only provides the limited information that we have when issued with a legally binding order from Swiss authorities, which can only happen after all Swiss legal checks are passed. This is an important distinction because Proton operates exclusively under Swiss law.”
Because the Proton Mail account was paid for by credit card, Proton AG was able to provide the payment identifier, which could then be used to find the card’s holder, leading to an arrest for alleged trespassing. However, 404 Media does not name the person in question as they do not seem to have been charged since.
It can be both PR and also accurate.
Do they think people are stupid?
Why so? Being based in Switzerland, Proton has to comply with Swiss law enforcement. The issue I see is giving any weight to «all Swiss legal checks».
Mail and VPN have different legal requirements in Switzerland
I just saw they did an interview recently with the Verge. Maybe trying to make up for previous bad press.