Unnecessary and deeply concerning bow to the new "king"
Update: position got backed up by an official Proton post on Mastodon, it's an official Proton statement now. https://mastodon.social/@protonprivacy/113833073219145503
Update 2, plot-twist: they removed this response from Mastodon - seems they realize it exploded into their face!
If for "little guys" Proton CEO intends minors, we are cooked 🤦
Also, top 10 anime plot twists
The official @protonprivacy@mastodon.social account replied and doubled down
protonprivacy@mastodon.social - @jonah
Corporate capture of Dems is real. In 2022, we campaigned extensively in the US for anti-trust legislation.
Two bills were ready, with bipartisan support. Chuck Schumer (who coincidently has two daughters working as big tech lobbyists) refused to bring the bills for a vote.
At a 2024 event covering antitrust remedies, out of all the invited senators, just a single one showed up - JD Vance.
1/2
protonprivacy@mastodon.social - @jonah By working on the front lines of many policy issues, we have seen the shift between Dems and Republicans over the past decade first hand.
Dems had a choice between the progressive wing (Bernie Sanders, etc), versus corporate Dems, but in the end money won and constituents lost.
Until corporate Dems are thrown out, the reality is that Republicans remain more likely to tackle Big Tech abuses.
2/2
(Less importantly, my response)
So sounds like their main concern is addressing the abuses of the FAANG monopolies, and only a Republican has talked to them about it.
I guess that is understandable in that very narrow lens, but it's a bit laughable considering how all the big tech companies are also cozying up to the Trump administration. All this has done for me is make me wary of anything Proton does now.
Actually I disagree on the latest part. I actually questioned, why google and Facebook had to go kiss the ring and pay some bucks to Trump, and didn't have to do that before? This for me is a sign of a disalignment between big tech and the administration.
That said, it's very much possible (I would say likely) trump won't do shit and he just happens to have the "correct" position on this particular issue because it can be used to attack the Californian elite (I.e. dem elite). But it's a matter of fact that it's auspicable he will follow up with action on his words on this, even if for the wrong reasons.
Its more that trump is very transactional. He couldnt give to shit if corpations are fleecing people so as long he gets a peice. Its like businesses paying the mafia for "protection".
These fuckers act like they've never heard of Lina Khan. Let's see if Republicans try to replace her with someone with a stronger track record. Or, if they're so serious about tech competition maybe they'll get on board with net neutrality.
And look, I actually like Gail Slater (the Trump nominee that kicked off this thread). She's got some bona fides, and I welcome Republicans taking antitrust more seriously, and rolling back the damage done by Robert Bork and his adherents (including and probably most significantly Ronald Reagan).
But to pretend that Democrats are less serious about antitrust than Republicans ignores the huge moves that the Biden administration have made in this area, including outside of big tech.
By my lights your response is quite effective, and while I appreciate the modesty I think it's appropriate to bring it over here:
Unfortunately, there's a line beyond which it's not okay to view a political party through one issue, and IMO the Republicans have crossed that line.
Privacy is a human rights issue. Republicans have signaled very strongly that they're going to violate more human rights. It's a net loss for privacy if that happens, even if big tech is a bit more restrained.
I'm sorry @protonprivacy, you've failed this test IMO. It would be one thing to say that given that the Republicans are in power, that Gail Slater is a good pick, but that's not the stance you took.
The election already happened. Therefore it's not a matter of picking. With regards of antitrust and big tech, Trump can do nothing, worse or better. In case of "better" there are indirect privacy wins. Everything else is completely unrelated, it's not like the Trump administration will break up a monopoly every 3 other human rights he violates.
So what does it mean
Privacy is a human rights issue. Republicans have signaled very strongly that they're going to violate more human rights. It's a net loss for privacy if that happens, even if big tech is a bit more restrained.
If "big tech is not restrained" it's going to be the same or worse, so why we wouldn't be happy at least if that happens? I didn't read a celebration of Trump as a win for human rights tout court, which could have prompted this response (I.e., hey, might be a win for privacy, but it's a loss for x, y, z).
I literally just switched over from Google a few months ago and finally got all settled in. Just great. Does anyone know of any good alternative? I know Tuta exists, are there other options?
I wouldn’t say he embraced Trump, I’d say he is pro-breaking big tech, since that would probably help Proton.
Bernie Sanders even came out and said “hey, if Trump wants to cap credit card interest rates, I’m with him on that.”
Trump says a lot of shit to appeal to working class people. I don’t disagree with reminding him of what he said and holding him to those things, if he’s now going to be president.
Under the divine guidance of Elon Musk, I strongly doubt if emperor Trump will break any big tech. More likely he'll pat them on the back (while requiring more surveillance data to be submitted).
This. Fuck Trump, but he does occasionally do good things, even if for all the wrong reasons. NAFTA was terrible for labour. That's not why he hated it, though.
And taxing imported oil is great. Thought we need to tax or ban domestic carbon extraction too.
Why does he think Trump is against big tech when he's working side by side with Musk?
He doesn't. it's just lube to help his customers swallow his bullshit
Hypothetically, if Hitler saved a child from being hit by a car would you publicly sing Hitlers praises and be happy to make positive quotes about it?
Does being on the right side of a single issue negate everything else?
it's not about being "right" or "wrong" for these people. it's about protecting their own class interests. it's something we can learn from them - what can we do every day to protect our own interests as members of the working class?
Well at the bare minimum you can unionise.
What's that, Lassie? Another platform that's not self hosted outing themselves as a chud? Well, I never!
Email is notoriously hard to self host. It requires constant care, planning, and interfacing with the big guys when your email can’t get delivered despite jumping through all the hoops (DKIM, DMARC, SPF and more).
I used to run email services for my small business and former start-up. It was a never-ending pain. IP warming, monitoring, deliverability checks…. blah blah blah.
Both Google and Microsoft would regularly blacklist massive IP address blocks because of one bad IP address. Days to weeks for resolution in some cases.
I’m a little salty though ‘cause I just switched to proton away from RackSpace. There are so few good and reliable options that aren’t the big guys and the big guys want it that way.
Standing up for the little guy. Huh. Is that why billionaires and CEO are throwing literal tens of millions at Trump? Why he staffed his cabinet with billionaires? Why the center of his policy is tax cuts for the giga wealthy, at the expense of everyone else and the national debt, at a time where wealth inequality is literally tearing the country apart?
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/15/trump-windfall-fundraising-500-million
https://www.axios.com/2024/12/09/trump-wealth-cabinet-politicians-billionaires
These are objective, public facts. Like, I'm way more conservative than Lemmy’s center and willing acknowledge any good Trump does, but what reality is this guy living in? Who is this statement for? Who the heck does he think is using Proton services? He just pissed off his employees and customers for… What?
It's ridiculous how many people just go "oh well time to dump Proton" because of a picture (not even a link) of a tweet without context. Also the title is misleading. Andy Yen in this picture is complementing Trump, and also apperently posting facts about who started the antitrust actions. "Embracing" is, really, as I have written, misleading.
Position got backed up by an official proton account as a reaction to a shitstorm on Mastodon.
Taking the time to remove Google, embraced proton mail ... Maybe it's time to just write letters and send meme post cards.
Amateur Radio.
There is a mobile app (called "Rattlegram") that converts a string of text to a wave of audio (played though your phone's speaker) and then someine on the receiving end could also use this app to decode.
You can use Secure Space Encryptor (SEE) (known as Paranoia Text Encryption on iOS) which is a Open Source encryption app that can turn text into a string of ciphertext using symmetric encryption. Paste the ciphertext on Rattlegram and send it over amateur radio.
Then just decode and decrypt on the other end.
Warning: Encryption over amateur radio is illegal, this is for entertainment purposes only.
(I mean you could also just send the ciphertext over SMS 🤷♂️, but ham radio is cooler 😎)
Yes I'm sure he'll crack down hard on all the tech companies that are giving him millions of dollars and kissing his feet...
What a moron.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)