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1. Embed this notice
   Benedikt (bhaug@digitalcourage.social)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 15:58:42 JST Benedikt

   • Aral Balkan
   • Mike Kuketz 🛡
   • linuzifer
   • Proton
   • Christian Pietsch

   Update:
   Proton removed their response (link below) from Mastodon, seems they realized it exploded into their face.

   Original toot:
   After I had given #Protonmail the benefit of the doubt for one board member making inconsiderate and alarming statements on #MAGA #Trump, they have doubled down officially:
   https://mastodon.social/@protonprivacy/113833073219145503

   I therefore consider this official opinion of Proton. Focussing on one aspect and completely ignoring the bigger picture of a luming fascist period in the most militarized economy of the world is just inacceptable. Proton just could have kept their mouth shut, but they decided not to.
   Thanks for revealing yourselves and happy to end my subscription, I won't support a company like you until you do better @protonprivacy

   Please boost to spread this news if you find this important.

   @kuketzblog @chpietsch @aral
   @linuzifer

   #ProtonExodus #Proton #E2E #Email #Privacy #Infosec

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 17:45:36 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Mike Kuketz 🛡
     • Antanicus
     • linuzifer
     • Proton
     • Christian Pietsch

     @antanicus @bhaug @protonprivacy @kuketzblog @chpietsch @linuzifer https://digitalcourage.social/@bhaug/113835690623223269

   • Embed this notice
     Antanicus (antanicus@puntarella.party)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 17:45:37 JST Antanicus

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • Mike Kuketz 🛡
     • linuzifer
     • Proton
     • Christian Pietsch

     @bhaug @protonprivacy @kuketzblog @chpietsch @aral @linuzifer any chance you got a screenshot of that reply?

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 00:36:55 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Mike Kuketz 🛡
     • linuzifer
     • Proton
     • Christian Pietsch

     @bhaug @protonprivacy @kuketzblog @chpietsch @linuzifer Yeah, he, and Proton, can fuck right off.

     In the words of Desmond Tutu, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

     When one side are literal fascists and you’re like “hey, that’s cool too”, you’re not neautral, you’re fine with fascism. You’re saying that fascism isn’t a deal breaker for you.

     So, yeah, fuck that shit.

   • Embed this notice
     Benedikt (bhaug@digitalcourage.social)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 00:36:56 JST Benedikt

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • Mike Kuketz 🛡
     • linuzifer
     • Proton
     • Christian Pietsch

     @protonprivacy @kuketzblog @chpietsch @aral @linuzifer

     This is because both Proton as a company, and Proton as a community, is highly diverse, with people that hold a wide range of opinions and perspectives. It's important that we not lose sight of nuance. Agreeing/disagreeing with somebody on one point, rarely means you agree/disagree with them on every other point.

     I would like to believe that as a community there is more that unites us than divides us, and that privacy and freedom are universal values that we can all agree upon. This continues to be the mission of the non-profit Proton Foundation, and we will strive to carry it out as neutrally as possible.

     Going forward, I will be posting via u/andy1011000. Thank you for your feedback and inputs so far, and we look forward to continuing the conversation."

     4/4

     Aral Balkan repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Benedikt (bhaug@digitalcourage.social)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 00:36:57 JST Benedikt

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • Mike Kuketz 🛡
     • linuzifer
     • Proton
     • Christian Pietsch

     @protonprivacy @kuketzblog @chpietsch @aral @linuzifer

     The operations of Proton have always reflected our neutrality. For example, recently we refused pressure to deplatform both Palestinian student groups and Zionist student groups, not because we necessarily agreed with their views, but because we believe more strongly in their right to have their own views.

     It is also a legal guarantee under Swiss law, which explicitly prohibits us from assisting foreign governments or agencies, and allows us no discretion to show favoritism as Swiss law and Swiss courts have the final say.

     The promise we make is that no matter your politics, you will always be welcome at Proton (subject of course to adherence to our terms and conditions). When it comes to defending your right to privacy, Proton will show no favoritism or bias, and will unconditionally defend it irrespective of the opinions you may hold.

     3/

   • Embed this notice
     Benedikt (bhaug@digitalcourage.social)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 00:36:58 JST Benedikt

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • Mike Kuketz 🛡
     • linuzifer
     • Proton
     • Christian Pietsch

     @protonprivacy @kuketzblog @chpietsch @aral @linuzifer

     say that it is a false equivalence to say that agreeing with Republicans on one specific issue (antitrust enforcement to protect small companies) is equal to endorsing the entire Republican party platform.

     Second, officially Proton must always be politically neutral, and while we may share facts and analysis, our policy going forward will be to share no opinions of a political nature. The line between facts, analysis, and opinions can be blurry at times, but we will seek to better clarify this over time through your feedback and input.

     The exception to these rules is on the topics of privacy, security, and freedom. These are necessarily political topics, where influencing public policy to defend these values, often requires engaging politically.

     2/

   • Embed this notice
     Benedikt (bhaug@digitalcourage.social)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 00:36:59 JST Benedikt

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • Mike Kuketz 🛡
     • linuzifer
     • Proton
     • Christian Pietsch

     @protonprivacy @kuketzblog @chpietsch @aral @linuzifer

     Andy Yen on Reddit, 2025-01-16,

     "On Politics and Proton - a message from Andy
     Hi all, last night, a post from last year from my personal X account suddenly became a topic of discussion here on Reddit. I want to share a few thoughts on this to provide clarity to the community on what is Proton's policy on politics going forward.

     First, while the X post was not intended to be a political statement, I can understand how it can be interpreted as such, and it therefore should not have been made. While we will not prohibit all employees from expressing personal political opinions publicly, it is something I will personally avoid in the future. I lean left on some issues, and right on other issues, but it doesn't serve our mission to publicly debate this. It should be obvious, but I will

     1/n

   • Embed this notice
     Jay Baker (mediaactivist@todon.eu)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 04:08:57 JST Jay Baker

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • Mike Kuketz 🛡
     • linuzifer
     • Proton
     • Christian Pietsch

     @aral @bhaug @protonprivacy @kuketzblog @chpietsch @linuzifer It's very disconcerting indeed, and I agree that the Desmond Tutu quote applies! I'd love to know people's suggestions for alternatives to Proton's services/packages. For too long they've seized and essentially monopolised the anti-Google scene.