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.
There’s a lot one can knock Proton for but having a comprehensive suite of features is not one of them on its own.
The set of features is not unique, e.g. Nextcloud can do much of what Proton offers.
If people distrust Proton solely for the fact that they are trying to have the same feature set as Google and Microsoft, then that kneecaps any potential competitor against this duopoly. If the ideal way is to pay for a VPN provider, cloud storage, email and document editor all separtely or self-host each, it’s not really accessible to many either financially or in terms of technical knowledge.
If people distrust Proton solely for the fact that they are trying to have the same feature set as Google and Microsoft, then that kneecaps any potential competitor against this duopoly.
The problem is not that they are trying to have the same feature set. It’s that they are enforcing using those only with theirs, not open source, tools. Last time I checked there was no way to use their mail service with mail client of ones choosing, for example. That’s the golden cage
Last time I checked there was no way to use their mail service with mail client of ones choosing, for example. That’s the golden cage
I looked before and IMAP is still supported for any paid plan, you are limited to webmail and 1st party apps if on a free tier.
I understand the argument against centralization, it’s part of the reason I like the Fediverse and I’m on Lemmy to begin with. But are there any other core parts of Proton that is exclusive to itself that they are needlessly locking in a walled garden?
I switched from Google to Proton a few years ago and am happy with it, though it’s not perfect. I only really use Mail, Pass, and Drive.
Tne thing I really wish was better is their Calendar. It has all the basics but a robust task system and extras like timetracking could make it awesome.
Unfortunately I am still using Google calendar as it is central to my time and task organization.
Oh, I thought it was talking about Valve’s Proton.
Honestly, Proton has seemed shady this whole time. I got a bogus gmail account so that it would not move all my google spam to my Proton account. Then it sent an email notification to a completely different gmail saying that I needed to check 5 new Proton emails. Like, I did not want that to be known, hence my reason for switching to Proton. It pissed me off, so now it is just my email trash can. I’ll find another junk email when I pay for extra domains elsewhere.
given how close proton and andy yen are to oppressive governments, you should trust anyone but them.
