Proton a trap to monitor people?
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possible, but the same could be said for most vpns and digital security services. proton continues to pass independent audits. without any sort of evidence to subterfuge all there is is speculation, which doesn't do much good imo
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Let's be honest, you can't 100% trust anything.
Anyone who uses one service for mail, all internet traffic (VPN), passwords, all there documents/ files, life events via a calendar, and now Bitcoin tied to an account is placing too much trust in one company regardless of how many audits or what internet forums say.
Spread the risk and use multiple providers and try not to tie everything to one account is all you can really do.
Assuming there's nothing to worry about and they are fully legit, the choice not to use Monero is a wise move. Governments are extremely hostile towards anything privacy related when it comes to money (Samurai team for example) using Monero will just bring negative attention on Proton.
At the end of the day if you use Monero to pay and use a VPN they have your home IP address anyway. If you can mask your home IP and need to hide your identity pay with non-KYC bitcoin.
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Would it be desirable for a state actor to have a foot in an email provider or VPN service? Sure (as it would be having it in other areas too - like iOS and Android, macOS, Windows, password managers, hardware, cryptocurrencies just to name a few).
Could it be that “something big” is going on in the background without the world knowing about it? Absolutely possible - the Snowden leaks have shown it.
If you use your human intuition to question whether Proton is trustworthy or not, that's absolutely fine.
Nevertheless, I think that asking the question the way you're asking it will ultimately lead to nothing useful except that you'll end up with a series of assumptions, feelings, fears and opinions on the subject and end up just as wise as before.
Maybe it would be a better approach to ask whether anyone has some kind of evidence for your assumptions.
If there is no such, I would at least look at clues (in a sense of "circumstantial evidence" - I'm not shure if i'm translating it correctly) that could confirm or invalidate your intuition. Helpful steps off the top of my head (please feel free to add) could include the following questions:
Can you (or a talented developer you trust) look at the softwares's source code?
Are there independent security audits?
Does the company have a viable business model or is there a lot of volunteer work keeping the project alive?
Taking this approach, for me personally this brings up other email/VPN providers than Proton that would raise more red flags for me.
I think that Proton is a reliable company, it seems quite obvious now. They just can't escape the law.
Considering their track record I would say Proton is fine. Skepticism and intuition are valuable but only if you're also willing to follow it up with research and further understanding of what it is you're skeptical of.
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I see no evidence in your 'I feel like' claim. Also, what exactly makes you think that Proton is unreliable, while you use the iVPN logo as your profile image? Is it you trying to say that iVPN is far more trustable than Proton VPN?
There is no evidence that I know of that Proton is a honeypot. The times they gave user info to the authorities was when they were compelled to because of local laws and even then the info they were able to share was minimal.
If someone wants to make claims otherwise, they need to provide evidence. Don't say "watch this documentary," because I don't have time to watch a documentary every time someone makes some claims here. People making big claims need to share links to a news article or trustworthy website to back up their claim.
Unverified FUD / conspiracy theory, whatever claims will be removed. Repeatedly posting things like this will result in suspensions or bans.
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I'm somehow intuitive
But I also think we shouldn't underestimate human intuition.
A very interesting 1st post?
You place a lot of trust in your intuition.
Also, that English translation is impeccable.
What engine are you using please?
gsture There can be potential complexities and legal concerns with accepting cryptocurrencies with 'absolute' anonymity. Tutanota absolved themselves of this issue by enabling third-parties to sell gift-cards and that seemingly works for them from a business perspective.
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I have read and re-read your post.
This is my intuition at work.
This is my insight. (well you did ask, after all!)
This post has an agenda, a thinly veiled smoke and mirrors attempt at gaining support for arguments against a certain company, whilst steering it to another.
Your logo.. not very subtle..
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[deleted] I very much doubt that this person is at all affiliated with IVPN, if that's what you're insinuating.
(Mentioning that because that's what their logo reminds me of)
matchboxbananasynergy (Mentioning that because that's what their logo reminds me of)
Its 100% the iVPN logo, which honestly does seem a little sus. Hopefully there is no affiliation.
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itsjpb As usual there is no real evidence of them being a honeypot. They are audited but how can we trust that these auditor companies are not also intelligence shell companies?
The fact that proton handed over user data is a non-argument. They simply have to because of the jurisdiction they are in.
But what is obvious is that they don't really care about users or their privacy/anonymity. If they would, they would develop a non-FCM notification system instead of just talking. They are most likely better than other overt spying cloud services, but not for a serious privacy enthusiast.
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TrustExecutor As usual there is no real evidence of them being a honeypot. They are audited but how can we trust that these auditor companies are not also intelligence shell companies?
classic case of "who watches the watchers" a rabbit hole akin to a traversable wormhole...
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Dumdum Its 100% the iVPN logo, which honestly does seem a little sus. Hopefully there is no affiliation.
You may well say that, I couldn't possibly comment!