this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2026
507 points (99.4% liked)
Technology
89355 readers
3473 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Holy shit this CEO is fully unhinged, I feel so much for the employees at Proton. What the fuck. I like Proton products T.T
I have never bought into the Proton hate seen on Lemmy, as most if not all of it came from a fundamental misunderstanding of how technology works. And if anything, this report confirms that the employees inside Proton really do seem to care about the product.
But ultimately, if the CEO is this hostile internally, those employees will leave and the product will just enshittify at an exponential rate. This is actually some very damning insight into the future of Proton.
Proton has a couple competitors that are viable to switch to, if not somewhat half baked next to Proton. But it’s important to understand for the people who have been berating Proton for handing over metadata to authorities and similar things, that Tutanota and other competitors will have all the same problems. Tuta is based in Germany which is a member of 14 eyes, and will if anything be more susceptible to the whims of the US government than Proton was.
I don't really care if they hand metadata to authorities. I want to replace "we give you free services, in return we spy on you, then we ALSO want you to pay us later and we'll still spy on you" with "pay us for our services, we literally can't spy on you bc of encryption".
Whoever has that will get my money, (well, except Proton because fuck that CEO).
You’d be surprised at how many people on Lemmy have decided Proton is lying to people and secretly sharing all your data with US authorities because of the handful of times they have been ordered to by law hand over metadata that does not include the content of their data.
These people then say to ditch Proton and use Tutanota instead as if they they somehow won’t be compelled to do the exact same thing.
Lemmy is odd. Its more tech aware then reddit yet some how just had ignorant and stupid as reddit on tech related matters.
I think it's just anyone who actually understands or has a reasonable take don't bother engaging with the stupid.
While the idiots open their mouths.
Proton ain't perfect and yen is an idiot. But some one the claims I've seen about proton baffle me.
People literally expect Proton to break the law. That's what lavabit did and it was their demise.
I haven't seen this view. I mostly see people defending Andy Yen when anyone brings up the first red flags he dropped
Or to use Mullvad...
I also would like to have a perfect VPN & mail client, but for now nothing beats proton it seems (fuck that loser CEO attitude though, what the hell).
Andy Yen’s political afilliations are one thing, but this does indicate an imminent decline in the function of the product.
It's not a misunderstanding. I hate them because they deal in crypto.
Proton uses cryptography, thats applied mathematics, not bitcoin lol.
https://proton.me/wallet
You can help us by spreading this https://molecule.build/
we need collective worker power at proton
You'd be surprised how many companies have CEO's like this. Mine is the same way. Use AI or get fired is becoming very standard.
Proton products have been great for me, I use them all every day. Not renewing when my sub is up and I'll quote Andy Yen as why.
So what are the alternatives?
Haven't done enough research to say yet. Others have been suggesting in the thread. Might self host my passwords. Email seems the easiest switch with the most options. Cloud storage, not sure yet; I need a decent amount of it for crucial backups.
Well, that's the problem IMO, there isn't really a perfect alternative.
I never claimed that there was.
I didn't say you were 🤷🏼♀️
I suppose I'm just confused at the purpose of the sentiment, then. Not having a perfect alternative is not a good excuse to continue supporting Proton with its current leadership and direction.
It's the best I know about.
If you don't take issue with the things raised in the article, then you do you. For me, they are enough for me to leave Proton. You came into this conversation asking me what alternatives I was interested in.
Well to where then? This sounds more like a proton bash than something helpful.
??? I already answered that 7 comments ago. You asked me for my opinions and I gave them, I'm so confused.
You answered that you didn't know of a better alternative, but you also think people should move, which doesn't make sense.
For the record, nowhere in this conversation did I say that I think people should move. You're putting words in my mouth. I've only ever spoken about myself and my own plans.
That clarified, I do think people should not support a company with leadership like Proton's.
You do not need a perfect or "better" (subjective) alternative to leave Proton. If you are not willing to accept an inconvenience for a moral stance, then it is no moral stance at all.
Just because I do not personally yet know what I will be switching to does not at all undermine my position. I do not think you are carrying on this conversation in good faith, so I'm going to end it here.
Yeah you could have just shut up ages ago, nothing lost but a lot of babbel.
Blocked.