Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee has joined the advisory board of ProtonMail email service provider.
In a statement, ProtonMail CEO and founder Andy Yen said Berners-Lee's addition to the company's board is in line with its goal of "creating an internet where people can control their information at all times." ”.
"Our vision is to create an internet where privacy is the default, creating an ecosystem of services accessible to everyone, everywhere, every day," said Gen.
Yen said the company was already in a relationship with Berners-Lee, explaining that the ProtonMail idea was originally conceived at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, where the World Wide Web was created.
The addition of Berners-Lee comes almost immediately after assigning an IP address from ProtonMail to the French authorities. This concession was made in order for the company to comply with a court decision by a Swiss court.
Addressing the IP address in a post on the company blog Earlier this week, Yen said all companies must comply with laws, and court rulings if:
"Regardless of the service you use, unless it operates 15 miles offshore in international waters, the company must comply with the law."
Following this incident, ProtonMail changed its privacy policy to state that the company may be "legally obliged to register IP addresses as part of a criminal investigation conducted in Switzerland".
Prior to the incident, the company's website reported that by default, it did not maintain IP logs that could be linked to an anonymous email account.
ProtonMail apologized for its previous wording. The company now has 50 million users, and of course had to take immediate remedial action.
The addition of Tim Berners-Lee to the ProtonMail board is one of them.
