I think the bigger issue is that the FBI was able to obtain the data.
Unfortunately, the FBI can ask the Swiss govt to get that info and the Swiss govt can request it from Proton. Proton has to give info that the Swiss govt requests based on their laws, hence why it was payment info. It’s talked about in their privacy policy.
and they offer both crypto and literal envelopes full of cash as payment methods.
and they provide a guide for connecting to their onion service over tor.
This is just an issue of someone not understanding their threat model or the services offered.
They have also said before too that they're not trying to make like snowden level privacy or something. To plan on doing illegal stuff coordinating with an email account you paid for by credit card is really foolish.
This is true.
What proton alternatives are recommended?
Tuta mail, but if you use a credit card you'll probably run into similar issues.
Are there uBlock filters to just remove the paywall from sites like this?
archive.is
Not that I'm aware of, but you can always put archive.is in front of the url to get an archived copy that isn't paywalled, like so: https://archive.is/www.404media.co/proton-mail-helped-fbi-unmask-anonymous-stop-cop-city-protestor/
But also 404 media is great and you should subscribe to them.
I wouldn't use archive.is anymore. They tampered with the captures.
Oof, yeah, I'll switch off. It's just easy to remember/convenient
Google Captcha walled, amazing. /s
Came here to say the same. Just subscribe and you can read it for free. Such a great news org.
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 :)