cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40055131
OG title: We need to talk… about the Proton ecosystem
Ecosystem is a trap. It lures you in with the promise of convenience, only to lock you inside a walled garden. Like Google and Apple. They start with a good product, but then force you to use the whole suite to get the full experience. This is dangerous.
Ecosystems are concentrating all of your data and your digital life in the hands of a single entity. An entity that grows so large and powerful that it will start making compromises against your rights only to find more ways to profit or protect their business. The larger the ecosystem, the bigger data harvester it becomes. It becomes a bigger target for hackers and the more products it offers the more data it has to give to the surveillance state.
We know that the big tech does this, because their only moral value is the shareholder value. [4] But when a private company starts quacking like a duck in the steps of the big tech, it should worry us the same way. That company is Proton. The maker of the most renowned privacy products that have always been meant as ethical alternatives to the big tech.
Today, Proton resembles more and more the ecosystems of Google and Apple than it does its noble origins of fighting the big tech. This is a problem. It’s a problem for your privacy and it’s a problem for the whole community. But you probably never of heard of this perspective, because none of this is talked about enough. There is a reason for this.
You see, most content on Proton you’ll find, is coming from sources that are sponsored or affiliated with Proton. And I know how lucrative Proton’s deals are, because Proton even tried to pay me. Of course, I refused their offer, because taking their money would incentivize me not to recommend against Proton products. I am uniquely positioned to give you a nuanced critique of Proton and how to solve this problem.
Some good points to be said. I find the overall argument a bit weak as it is mainly one of user erorr of sorts. Btw THO has some pretty good back log of videos on privacy; check out their stuff on burners phones and anonymizing yourself at a protest.
Historically that’s all true, and good reason to keep an eye on them.
But Proton is very much different than all the previous companies in this space. They’re a non-VC funded private non-profit, with a board of trustees made up of scientists and engineers. The buisness model is funded by subscription, not ad sales. And by design, they themselves have no access to any of their users data.
With all that in place to prevent enshittification, I don’t realy see any rational reason for concern.
Yeah, I left recently had a family plan $20 a month, but the value ad was just not there, and then I saw them spending money on crypto and AI, and we all use Linux, so I feel like we got left out in the cold in a way, no drive client etc
Linux drive client is finally in the works, but yeah the AI chat, and crypto wallet is nonsense.
I use proton bridge with thunderbird. I ignore the rest of the suite of services (i wish i could pay less for stuff i dont use)
i dont feel trapped as long as i stick to email only. I self host the rest of it (files, calendar)
Yeah. I’m hoping to go mostly self-hosted.
100%
Proton should fire bootlicker Andy and fix their current products instead of spreading out and vibe coding as many apps as they can to grow their own centralized monopoly.
He’s the reason I left. Oh well. Mullvad has since been a better VPN experience, anyway, and secure email options aren’t tough to find.
Other than Tuta, which would you consider?
Check out mailbox.org, but nothing wrong with Tuta.
I think he may have doing what other companies did; kiss trumps ass to stay out of his “we need to go after these guys” radar. Trump could easily have ordered no offshore encryption allowed or some nonsense that would limit them operating in the USA
