As I mentioned more in detail in other post, Proton is not the pro-MAGA many had misinterpreted. It is just sloppy at the marketing campaign and its leader makes statements that can easily misunderstood too.

That said, Proton has decided to aim for the masses, which has proven to be a winning business formula here. However, in that quest, it’s natural that concerns from top-tier privacy users (Linux users, those wanting non-Google push notifications, too-many-eggs-in-a-basket, etc.) get relegated in favor of the bulk of their primary target customers, the regular Joe who simply wants to move away from email and web traffic scraping. We should all applaud that decision, but we also recognize the limitations and big risks of having a single company holding some 80% of this privacy market, both for us and even for Proton. It would be better to foster a healthy, diverse, and more equitable privacy ecosystem.

Thanks so much, this looks worth a deep look! Iĺl need time to interpret this properly.

Signal, I agree… it has flags for me in so many ways.

Tor. Unlikely though. For sure many nodes are controlled and now they are using massive power to unlock the traffic, but was not set up as a honeypot per se, it is now, probably, technologically quite compromised though.

Mullvad. Funny, your suspicions probably got enhanced when Mullvad makes a browser based on Tor’s. But I still not highly suspect of Mullvad. Quite steady organic growth, profitable, no much pronouncements or catering to certain “targeted” groups… No mayor red flags for me.

Absolutely! Location does not guaranteed anything. The only case against US, four eyes… etc is that they have the power to shut it down easily so they can use it as a threat. Switzerland has, for years now, showed the same drive as any other country to do just that.

Now, I have seen very principled individuals in the US, I would say even more than in the Europe! It is not surprise that we see cases like Lavabit where a right owner chooses to close shop rather than compromise its customers. I hope GrapheneOS will do the same.

Of course, nobody is going to have evidence here, if there was any the cover would be lifted. But one can guess chances here:

Proton: “Unlikely”… but there is a but. They never cater for the ultimate privacy and they make typical blunders of a company wanted to growth really fast. Now, that they want to be a behemoth in Privacy makes it more vulnerable to requests from law enforcement. Also, law enforcement and intelligence agencies have it easier to penetrate within Proton massive headcount growth.

Tuta: “Very Unlikely”. The people behind started very young and had a sustainable growth. The people are very visible (unlike Crypto AG) so least likely to be working for an “agency”.

Mullvad: “Very Unlikely”. I think their story is similar to Tuta (haven´t followed it that much though).

GrapheneOS: “Very Unlikely”. But in the last year I have raised some minor concerns, but I haven change my rating yet…

/e/: “Very Unlikely”. I know the dude behind for 2 decades, he wouldn´t. However, /e/ never claimed full privacy and from the beginning says he would comply 100% with “lawful” requests, but it is not a honeypot, not that would make much difference to an intelligence agency if they wanted it.

Signal: “Potentially”… yes, yes… audited, solid privacy code… but still does not make sense to me many aspects; financially solvent from day one, the extreme unquestioned massive and vast support from launching till today… if i have to bet in all of these providers, this platform would have been my take as potential compromised one. I still use it to communicate with family since I trust better than WhatsApp, but I would not use it for critical journalistic info.

I have not seen evidence of Proton “going the far right route” yet. They are just sponsoring channels that ever mention privacy and far right ones frequently does that too. You can blame proton for no scrutinize, but not of siding with the right or the left. Proton is just focusing in mayor growth and nothing else, for better or for worse.

Three things on Proton:

1. Proton mail has been in a rampage with sponsor YouTube channels and, in my opinion, that is a mistake. I would have kept it an organic growth, but that is me… a nobody, and Proton has become far more successful than no other email provider in the privacy world.

2. Considering even that, Proton is not vetting who is sponsoring. This is a fiasco. For instance they try to sponsor the channel “The hated one” that never takes any sponsors and even constantly criticizes channels that does it. That is a mayor blunder for Proton, there is no scrutiny at all with their marketing deployment. By the way, we learned that that youtubers get a juicy amount by Proton in these sponsorships (I think was $70 per subscription).

3. Proton, for years, has been aiming for the masses, not the most serious in privacy (for instance, androidś Proton email still uses Google push services). That is not bad per se, I still recommend Proton to many. But those with a more ideological approach to privacy or those requiring top notch on it, should be aiming for other service providers.

I don’t use Brave, still with the more insecure Android Firefox variant (Firefox for Android is subpar in security), but I am glad Brave do want to expand here and for many users it is for sure the best option. No need to insult, whether you agree or not with them. If it is open, it is open and everything else should be secondary and for individual to choose on their own. Go Brave! Hope many more come too.

Pretty good!! I agree with 95%.

Loved the “As seen on TV” category!

I agree that Tuta is more secure than ProtonMail.

Some are blended like Tor, that should be in Activist if used in secured computer.

Was not aware of the existence of Coincarp (logo by GrapheneOS). Is a crypto price tracker used by Activists? I left crypto a couple of years ago but though Activists just don´t trade much and stick for the long haul and use Monero for purchases.