this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2025
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Proton

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Instead of leaving Xitter, they left Mastodon. Proton's trend is not inspiring confidence and this feels like another step backwards.

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[–] [email protected] 192 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

"limited resources" wtf? just copy and paste the content. I guess they didn't like the backslash on Mastodon because of the CEO and Trump bootlicker Andy Yen

[–] [email protected] 94 points 3 weeks ago

This is even more ridiculous given they have a bluesky account and all they need to do is follow the bridge and their content will be ported to mastodon. Literally 5 seconds.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Oh yeah that’s prob it. On Reddit they can delete any negative comments

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Same on Bluesky actually. They can hide comments they don’t like in response to their posts.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah not even copy paste, this has been easily automatable for years.

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[–] [email protected] 108 points 3 weeks ago

On Mastodon, Proton is held to a higher standard. That’s why they left for the dumb masses instead.

[–] [email protected] 92 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I was an apologist for Proton during the whole Andy Yen commentary mess, but this is a really sus choice for Proton to be making.

All that matters under capitalism is growth. I wonder if the thinking here is that Proton has already captured all the geek/privacy enthusiast crowd that it's going to, and Andy Yen's social fuck-up basically killed any future expansion in that space, so this is part of a pivot to new markets and abandonment of areas they know they aren't going to win back.

If so, I'd expect to see Proton making expanded ad buys targeting preppers, libertarians, sov-cit types and other "I'm being watched!!" kooks.

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Looks like I'm leaving Proton. Fucking hell, not even a year ago I migrated from Gmail

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

SAME! I only just finished getting all my servers and custom domain set up, and I already have to look for a new provider.

If someone has any recommendations for a good hosted email, VPN and online storage provider let us know. It seems there's not many good options left.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Learn your lesson and switch to a custom domain :) that way you will never have to change all your services' email addresses anymore, when you want to switch mail provider.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 3 weeks ago (11 children)

It's as if with each passing day, Proton wakes up and chooses to wear a slightly different red flag for a cape than the one they wore yesterday. I'm obviously being hyperbolic here, but I'm also a bit upset with myself for having decided to get an annual subscription with them last November.

I've heard good things about Mullvad for VPN and Tuta for mail. I've got my own domain that I can start using with whatever mail host I land on.

I'm in the U.S. What other mail providers are people using, and what other VPN providers should I be considering?

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 3 weeks ago (14 children)

I've been giving them the benefit of the doubt, but I'm kinda done with them. Anyone have any suggestions for a mail provider? I'm not yet willing to self-host that.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I've been happy with mailbox.org. I left proton after the boot licking. I had been a paying customer for years.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Guess I made the right choice to leave Proton.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Looks like Tuta’s getting my business now.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

Unfortunately, they lock you in. If they decide the AfD is their best friend, you can't get the emails out of their system because they don't have an email export function...

Anti Commercial-AI license

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 3 weeks ago

Funny how they didn’t make actual post on Mastodon, but just silently edited their profile to say they left Mastodon? That’s pretty cowardly.

Yet another reason to not like Proton.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Makes me glad that I procrastinated on switching over, I guess I’ll just ride out my current NordVPN subscription and switch over to Mullvad?

Almost makes me afraid to ask the community, what exactly is wrong with Nord? 😅

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

At least they are still on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/proton.me

But a true fediverse presence would be better

[–] [email protected] 52 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Bluesky is not much better than X despite it claiming to

[–] [email protected] 47 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

It's... better in the sense that you don't have right wing weirdos all over the place. But technically? Organizationally? Feels like we're on track to replay the same exact shit over again. It feels like people just aren't learning the lessons they should from the Twitter takeover.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Bluesky can be taken over by a billionaire. The fediverse cannot. Bluesky is just another Musk waiting to happen.

Anti Commercial-AI license

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Why do you keep adding that license to all your posts? You're like those boomers on Facebook that fell for that "Facebook doesn't own my photos cause I say so" meme.

No AI is gonna pay attention to whatever this is.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Can you even use Reddit if you’re running Proton’s VPN? I know Reddit has been actively blocking other VPNs (eg Mullvad) for some time.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 weeks ago

One shitty CEO can destroy a company the same way one shitty president can destroy a country.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

every time I hear anything about this shit company, I keep thinking it's valve's linux compatibility thingy and I get real confused about why people are hating on it.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 weeks ago

Yup, no sorry. Only bots left in reddit, have fun!

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 weeks ago

Proton is a CIA honeypot episode 978.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

If you're looking to shake up your email provider in the wake of this, I highly recommend getting a custom domain name, whatever provider you choose. Cloudflare sells domains at cost. Get a not-embarrasing .com of your own, and then you can move email providers in future without losing continuity. Proton allows exporting .eml files, which you can then import into your next provider. Or just keep in cold storage and declare email bankruptcy. Once you have a custom domain, you can use unique emails for all your services by setting up a catchall address. This will at least impede credential stuffing attacks, and let you know who sold/leaked your address if you do get spam.

I personally left Proton a month or so ago after the last bit of drama, in part out of principle, but also because their offering is just really expensive for my use case: I just want email, on a budget, with reasonable privacy. Plus I was tired of not having IMAP support and being locked into their clients. Moved to a Zoho business account (for now) and have been happy for the $12/yr. I already had a domain name, but they typically run <$20/year too.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I mean, it makes sense for a company to focus on a platform with a large user base. Social media managers aren't free.

[–] [email protected] 73 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I disagree, Proton is a privacy company with more followers on Mastodon than on Threads and TikTok. Should they also drop what Linux support they have to focus only on Windows because it has a large base? This feels alienating to their privacy conscious users if anything.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, this is what's kinda worrying me about this move. Proton's got a pretty good name with folks who are security conscious. This move feels more like they are kinda trying to pivot, to cash in litterally years of good reputation for something else. That'd suck at the best of times, but in the second Trump era? Really just ain't any good answers to what they might be cashing that in for.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It doesn't make sense when that company is founded on concepts of privacy and they axe the (relatively) private platform instead of the exploitative one full of Nazis and anti-consumerism.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Setting up some basic bridge functionality is probably not that difficult either, so they could just mirror their xitter posts.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Honestly I would be fine if they just setup some kind of mirror so their posts would show up across different platforms. The biggest issue with then not using mastodon is just not being informed of what is going on. They don't need to engage with people on mastodon just setup some kind of bridge.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

I was using proton pass but I would like to move on. Is there a good open source password manager that is secure and hosted locally?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Vaultwarden is the opensourced version of Bitwarden. One of the employees of Bitwarden is allowed to maintain it in their own time

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I wish VPS providers didn't commonly block email ports. Self hosting seems like the only way to stay in control

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