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.
Berners-Lee's addition comes almost immediately after ProtonMail handed over an IP address to French authorities, a concession the company made to comply with a court order from a Swiss court.
Addressing IP address logging in a company blog post earlier this week, Yen said all companies must comply with laws, and court orders, 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.
George is still wondering what he is doing here….
