• CaptObvious@literature.cafe
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      6 months ago

      Clearly, they do collect metadata and share it with police for the asking. Personally, advertising seems the lesser evil.

      • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Wrong on both counts. Google on the other hand does everything you’ve accused proton of, and much, much more.

        • CaptObvious@literature.cafe
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          6 months ago

          Evidence? I’ll stipulate Google’s culpability. I never said that Gmail is better than Proton just that there’s not a lot of difference between them, Proton fanbois’ protestations to the contrary notwithstanding.

          • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            The evidence is in the article above. They don’t cooperate with police requests for information, they only comply with legal orders from the Swiss judicial system. Google on the other hand not only works directly with police, but has been known to initiate contact with police, handing over the contents of entire accounts unprompted.

            Then there’s the fact that the metadata supplied by Proton in this case isn’t even required to use the platform. It’s an optional feature a user can opt into for usability, at the expense of a little anonymity.

            The differences between Proton and other providers like Google are immense. Proton can’t hand over the contents of your account because they don’t even have access to it. Google on the other hand has total access to all your data that they regularly abuse for profit, and will gladly hand over the entirety of to law enforcement. After all, the headline as posted to Lemmy here is misleading. The user wasn’t found out due to Proton, they were found out due to Apple. There’s your difference right there. They couldn’t do anything with the information they got from Proton directly, they had to link it to a different service that unlike Proton, handed over all the users information.

            • CaptObvious@literature.cafe
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              6 months ago

              So there’s no real evidence of Google doing what you accuse them of?

              Again, I’m no gigantic fan of Google, but they don’t seem any less reliable than Proton.

      • Christoph Schmees@social.tchncs.de
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        6 months ago

        @CaptObvious
        No, not “for the asking” but only on court order. And they even challenge those, see transparency report.
        And targeted advertising be the lesser evil? I beg to differ.
        Google combines everything they know from tracking you. And that’s a lot if you don’t fight against it. I for one had two evil experiences with them: (German):
        https://www.pc-fluesterer.info/wordpress/vorbeugen/e-mail/e-mail-und-privatsphaere/ (further links inside).
        And you have nothing to hide?
        Oh well.

      • Lileath@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        6 months ago

        It wasn’t metadata it was an entirely optional recovery email address that he used for his apple account.