this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2026
7 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

42773 readers
1472 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:


This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I heard that they require plaintext data to work. What are the other factors to this?

top 18 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] artyom@piefed.social 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Why would they be? Clearly no one cares about privacy, and they can sell your information to make money.

[–] CallMeAl@piefed.zip 8 points 5 hours ago

Nearly all are run by companies making money by recording as much of your data as possible.

A commercial cloud app could be entirely private but then the company would not be able to take your data.

[–] Steve@communick.news 6 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

There is no real technical reason. They could be. It's just a matter of encryption while in transit and no logs. Proton does it.

The real reason most aren't, is that there's not much incentive to make them private. The data has potential value, so why not hold on to it.

[–] acido@feddit.it 6 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Proton allegedly does it.

It's all just advertising, until you get the hard evidence.

[–] Steve@communick.news 0 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (2 children)

Most modern legal systems today presume innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around.

Proton is structured entirely unlike any other tech company. It would be against their own self interests to lie about their privacy claims. Their entire reputation is built on it. Any leak would destroy them.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 2 points 2 hours ago

Most modern legal systems today presume innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around.

That's because guilty people in the legal system get put in cages.

[–] acido@feddit.it 6 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

welcome to the real world, where corporations lie.

[–] Steve@communick.news -1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (2 children)

Not the real world. Just your imagination.

Corporations lie for profit. Where's the profit for Proton in keeping peoples AI queries, when they've been proven to not keep any other data? Literally they have nothing to gain, and everything to loose.

Skepticism and pessimism aren't the same thing. And baseless pessimism is just jaded. Jaded is the dark equivalent of naivety. They're both equally simplistic ignorance.

[–] sanzky@beehaw.org 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

there has been in the news several instances where proton has given to law enforcements information that have hold onto. in some cases regarding journalists.

their answer is always "ah, yeah. we do keep that one, but not the other data"

before you ask...an example https://privacyradar.com/news/privacy/proton-mail-payment-data-stop-cop-city-activist-identified/

[–] Steve@communick.news 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Of course they have to keep some basic account data. And I think the last IP you logged in from. Also email data outside the BODY can't be encrypted. That's just how email works. So law enforcement can get all of that if they convince a Swiss court to order Proton.

But no they don't keep or turn over anything that isn't technically required for the service to work. I don't know what you'd expect.

[–] acido@feddit.it 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

can you link me your source about Proton being "proven to not keep any other data"?

[–] Steve@communick.news 0 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

All the various 3rd party audits can be found here.

Can you give me to a link to your source they're lying about it?

[–] acido@feddit.it 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

have you ever checked them?

could you point me to where any of them proves that Proton isn't actually collecting any data?

because I am only reading about penetration tests and such, which only tell me that their software is reliable against attackers, but that is not the point of the discussion.

also it seems there is no audit for their AI assistant at the link you provided.

[–] Steve@communick.news 0 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

No, I haven't felt the need.

Again, do you have any links with evidence to the contrary?

[–] acido@feddit.it 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

then why did you link them?

anyway, the point here is that they are the ones making claims, so they have the burden of proof.

as I told you already, corporations lie to their customers all the time, so it is always better to be safe and wait for the actual proof before trusting any of them.

[–] Steve@communick.news 0 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

You're not saying "I don't know". If you assume they're lying, you're also making a claim. One you can't back up in this case.

And another place your confused, Proton isn't a typical corporate structure. It's owned by a non-profit, almost charity, effectively. One who's board of trustees is entirely scientists and engineers. Assuming they'll operate the same way a publicly traded corporation would is a big category error.

[–] acido@feddit.it 1 points 1 hour ago

i don't assume they are lying, I simply don't blindly believe their advertising claims without tangible evidence.

for example your claim of "no logging" is at best partially false, since their own privacy policy clearly states that IP addresses are at least temporarily collected, always and without exceptions.

who is the owner and how the company is funded is not important here, they are selling products and advertising them through claims that need verification.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 5 points 5 hours ago

"The cloud" is just somebody else's computer.