Encrypted email service Proton Mail is once again in trouble for something it's done before: Delivery data user to law enforcement.
Proton offers many services that it claims are safe. These include an end-to-end encrypted electronic product post officeostensibly designed for people who want to preserve their privacy, and Proton claims that the content of emails and attachments cannot be read, it has no trackers and ads, and that uses the “highest privacy standards”.
Anyway, it looks like they still exist information user data that Proton has access to and may be compelled to disclose. In 2021, the Swiss-based company provided the Swiss police with the IP address and the details of a user's device that the police were trying to identify. That person – a French climate activist – was later arrested after Proton shared his data with the French police.
Shortly after this Proton removed the claim that it does not track users' IP addresses from its website. Proton has been accused in the past of offering authorities real-time user tracking.
So now Proton has reportedly handed over an account recovery email address information to Spanish police for a suspected Catalan separatist supporter. The Spanish police provided the recovery address to Apple, which was reportedly able to identify the person associated with an account.
Proton reported to the advocacy group Restore Privacy that she was well aware of the case, but her hands were tied under Swiss anti-terrorism laws.
"Proton has minimal user information, as evidenced by the fact that in this case data obtained from Apple was used to identify the terrorist suspect," a Proton spokesperson said.
“Proton provides privacy in advancechoice και όχι ανωνυμία από προεπιλογή, επειδή η ανωνυμία απαιτεί ορισμένες ενέργειες του χρήστη για να διασφαλιστεί το σωστό OpSec, όπως η μη προσθήκη του Apple λογαριασμού σας σαν προαιρετική μέθοδο ανάκτησης.”
To paraphrase the company: Sure, your email is secure, but anything we know about you that isn't end-to-end encrypted we'll give to governments that ask for it.
