A community for Lemmy users interested in privacy
Rules:
Stolen from @vmstan
More analysis from @wiredfire:
It’s nothing to do with [difficulties in using multiple platforms]. It’s to do with the massive backlash they got on Fedi for their CEO being all Trumpy and somewhat horrible right wing. So they’ve run away because they were made to feel unwelcome on account of us not letting their BS fly.
Original screenshot is of the bio of https://mastodon.social/@protonprivacy and wasn’t a post (that confused me for a sec).
I'm out of the loop- what happened? Recently people were promoting Proton as an alternative to Gmail and Microsoft.
@protonprivacy@mastodon.social
It’s to do with the massive backlash they got on Fedi
That makes no sense, considering the message in question was posted on Xitter, and the backlash they received was far worse and more public on Reddit, where they are directing their followers to go. It won't stop anyone from talking about them here.
The message was on Xitter from Andy Yen, but it was highlight on Mastodon by Jonah from Privacyguides.
The official Proton account also tried to defend Andy Yen on Mastodon (and later deleted it).
Here the link to the thread on Mastodon.
You'd think Fedi would be a good place to be active on from a privacy-conscious user-base perspective, but I think this is the second time they leave Fedi? Either way, I guess being on Reddit allows them to moderate all the naysayers away.
There are a lot of advantages to the fediverse, but privacy really isn’t one of them.
True, but privacy conscious people tend to also be wary of concentrations of power in a platform, such as Reddit or Twitter. If you are aware of the issues with a closed system you tend to also be aware of privacy issues, security issues, state censorship, and so on, so the user base is more aware in the fediverse and if they are leaving for Reddit that really does say something. I won't be using their service, I feel very lucky to have found out about this before shifting as I was in the process of finding a stable email host and blending with the VPN seemed financially reasonable, guess I will stay with Mullvad and get a separate email provider.
With ActivityPub specifically, I'm aware. Yet privacy-conscious people tend to congregate there as well, which was my point.
Maybr not exactly privacy, but as long as your instance admins doesn't leak you IP, you have much more privacy than on Reddit. There are no algorithms trying to show you relevent ads, because your account isn't tied to your identity (unless your instance admin is evil).
Also, most Lemmy instances allows Tor. Yay for anonymity.
For me, the main advantage of the model is "you cannot conveniently observe everyone's activity from one place".
I made this basic comment about the CEO saying something pro-Trump and my comment got removed by a mod of /r/degoogle on the grounds that it wasn't factual.
Pretty infuriating.
You know I was like this close to getting proton VPN before this whole thing started. I've been researching for like 6 months to decide which one I was going to switch to. They were on the short list. Bullet dodged.
I suggest Mullvad as an alternative to Protons VPN services.
Yeah, plenty of good VPN alternatives. Not so much for email though if you want encryption.
tuta.com seems a good option, I switched to them a few months ago and so far so good
Seconded.
For anyone considering switching though, make sure:
I will say though, I found less sites throttled/blocked me on Mullvad in some cases, since Mullvad's IPs are less widely shared than Proton's, so that's a plus, but a few sites will have hard blocks on some VPN providers like Mullvad that they've made manual exclusions to for larger VPNs like Proton.
At least we know where their loyalties actually lie, now.
Yeah, their Linux dev team consists of two people, who, I believe only handle Linux things as part of their responsibilities and there is no dedicated team. I’m not salty that people have been asking for a Linux drive client for 4 years and the only response came this year saying ‘there’s only two people we’re focused on mail and vpn clients at the moment’.
Not trying to take away from Yen saying dumb shit with the company account or any of the mounting criticisms they’ve earned of late. Just a point toward their explanation not actually being too far out of the realm of possibility. And the likelihood of their PR/Social Media team being similarly small to the point of being understaffed.
Like yeah, is this needlessly antagonistic and blunt? Sure, but that feels more down to bad copy than the actual intent and direction of a companies PR dept, right?
“Due to a need for consolidation in the face of limited resources we will no longer be able to maintain the scope of our current social media presence. This account will remain active and be updated automatically but for the foreseeable future it will be unmonitored. Please join us on Reddit or contact support if you have any questions! Thanks Mastodon, toot on!”
Explains more clearly the logistical need to limit focus without disregarding the importance of the community. Someone hire me, I need a job. Leaves the account open to be reactivated some day and there’s no reason they couldn’t automate posting there.
I get tired of being so right all of the time
I was tempted to cancel after the CEO comments on politics, Reddit is a bit much though.
Reddit privacy policy is dog shit, having a company advertise privacy and use Reddit is comical
The ONLY reason I have Proton email, is because my bank thinks it's the only secure email in the world...
Are those people who have been quoted supposed to be significant to the privacy community?
I've looked through the links provided and read a couple articles (one is titled "Does Proton really support Trump? A deeper analysis and surprising findings" and it is all very he said/she said with almost nothing to back anything or anyone up...
I'll gladly read more if anyone has info?
It’s pretty simple, really. Did you read the original statement? Did you see where Yen said the Republican Party will champion the little people and be great for privacy? End of discussion.
The squabbling over “hE dIdN’t diRecTly prAIse Trump” is nonsense whataboutism distraction.
It’s pretty simple, really.
Context matters. Even if you don't see it.
The most significant quote is from Proton itself, which made an official statement in favor of Republican and JD Vance.
I haven't seen many people simply post archives to the now-deleted contents of what Proton said, which is pretty damning in its own right. Before Proton realized their mistake, started erasing their original replies, and crafting a much less damning-looking narrative.
I've reviewed the article that tries to ascertain Andy Yen's politics (as if doing this would have been less weird if it was unabashed love of Democrats) and I agree it's pretty bad in several ways.