Users can be frustrated with ProtonMail all they want, but the company’s compliance with the Swiss authorities is out of the company’s hands, according to Matthieu Audibert, a cyber expert working for French law enforcement.

Your privacy comes first.” And since TechCrunch first reported the company shared one of its users’ sensitive information with law enforcement, some ProtonMail users are starting to question whether the so-called “anonymous” email provider has been two-faced in its claims that it puts user privacy first. By default, we do not keep any IP logs which can be linked to your anonymous email account. As soon as a crime is committed, privacy protections can be suspended and we’re required by Swiss law to answer requests from Swiss authorities,” ProtonMail founder Andy Yen tweeted.īut on its site, ProtonMail has claimed in the past that, “No personal information is required to create your secure email account. The investigation has led to a series of arrests on the ground. (Switzerland-based ProtonMail isn’t subject to French or EU jurisdiction, but ProtonMail is obligated to respond to Swiss authorities.)įrench police came across the email address in the course of investigating a group that’s been protesting gentrification in a hip neighborhood of Paris since late 2020, and wanted to know who was behind it, according to local news sources.

Privacy experts consider it one of the safest email providers on the internet, but ProtonMail’s recent decision to hand over sensitive customer information to European law enforcement is raising questions about whether the company’s privacy claims are less of a promise and more of a mirage.Īfter French law enforcement requested-through Europol-that Swiss authorities share the IP address of a climate activist, the end-to-end encrypted email provider ProtonMail shared the user’s information.

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