In 2021, it caused quite a stir when they removed the “We do not keep any IP logs” statement…
Anyway, I was already in contact with them about this back in 2019, and all I got from them were lies. Nevertheless, Proton is still the least worst provider. (Unfortunately, I didn’t save the answers.)
It goes without saying, of course, that Proton must abide by the law, and there’s nothing wrong with that. What is reprehensible, however, is that they did this for years while claiming something else on their website, thereby deceiving users—and that this lie gave them a competitive advantage over other providers who were upfront and honest from the start, resulting in those providers attracting fewer users because people were more likely to go with Proton due to the deception.
As I said, it’s still the least bad provider. As for VPNs, I definitely won’t name my provider (it doesn’t have to be public), but before I’d use Proton VPN, I’d rather go with Mullvad.
Rent a VPS outside the 5/9/14 Eyes alliance and set up a server there yourself, etc.
Combine all of this with I2P or Tor.
Encrypt emails separately with PGP.
But it’s 2026… Western countries are already taking action against all of that anyway.
https://cyberinsider.com/protonmail-logs-users/
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/09/privacy-focused-protonmail-provided-a-users-ip-address-to-authorities/
https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/
In 2021, it caused quite a stir when they removed the “We do not keep any IP logs” statement… Anyway, I was already in contact with them about this back in 2019, and all I got from them were lies. Nevertheless, Proton is still the least worst provider. (Unfortunately, I didn’t save the answers.)
It goes without saying, of course, that Proton must abide by the law, and there’s nothing wrong with that. What is reprehensible, however, is that they did this for years while claiming something else on their website, thereby deceiving users—and that this lie gave them a competitive advantage over other providers who were upfront and honest from the start, resulting in those providers attracting fewer users because people were more likely to go with Proton due to the deception.
So what’s a good alt to proton
As I said, it’s still the least bad provider. As for VPNs, I definitely won’t name my provider (it doesn’t have to be public), but before I’d use Proton VPN, I’d rather go with Mullvad. Rent a VPS outside the 5/9/14 Eyes alliance and set up a server there yourself, etc. Combine all of this with I2P or Tor. Encrypt emails separately with PGP.
But it’s 2026… Western countries are already taking action against all of that anyway.