I always worry that it will get bought out by some asshole company and we’ll be even worse off than with Google (if that’s even possible).
Hi, this is Andy here, the Founder/CEO of Proton. As former scientists, we don’t do what we’re doing to make the most money (otherwise we wouldn’t have picked science as a profession). There’s no price which we would sell Proton to Google or Facebook. We also don’t need to because thanks to the strong support of the community, Proton has the resources to thrive and grow as an independent organization. Safeguarding this independence is how we ensure that over the long term, we can always put user interest above all else.
-Protonmail Founder, 2 years ago, for what it’s worth.
Google’s motto used to be “don’t be evil”
Companies can change.
deleted by creator
That’s a code of conduct. It used to be their motto
My mistake. Sorry.
That’s the benefit of a custom domain, I suppose; you can always change he provider without changing your email.
Yup, I just signed up for Tuta with a custom domain. If they start sucking, I’ll move to Proton or something else.
It’s unlikely but not impossible. I’ve been using PM with a custom domain for about five years now, and never thought too hard about leaving.
In an ideal world, a company like ProtonMail would be cooperatively owned by the workers and paying users, sort of like a credit union.
Pragmatically, they’ve done fine stewardship of the service for the last decade or so they’ve been around. A big part of it is that their value proposition depends on stability and trust. But it could be better.
For anyone using a custom domain, or thinking about it, read this: https://dmarcly.com/blog/how-to-implement-dmarc-dkim-spf-to-stop-email-spoofing-phishing-the-definitive-guide
Without these records you’re a lot more likely to go to spam, or get rejected outright. If you have questions about it, ask here or DM me and I’ll be glad to help.
Doing the lords work
This is very helpful, thank you.
I have been exploring self hosting my email.
Docker mail server for backend. Roundcube for web ui
Still keeping accounts at mainstream providers though as backup, especially for outgoing mail.
Register a domain, Postfix, spamassassin, freebsd jails… Do it like we did in the early 2000s, it never got better
You can just use a custom domain at Tuta, Proton, or any of the other email providers until you decide to self-host. Honestly, I don’t think self-hosting is worth it, I value the spam filtering and uptime that major providers offer.
Moving email seems like such a PITA, I don’t think I would move unless to self hosting.
Self hosting email is even more of a pain.
Assuredly.
Good lord yes
Move it to a custom domain and host it at Proton or Tuta. That way it’s a pain once, and then you don’t have to switch email addresses ever again.
Some services don’t send verification letters to Proton and it’s site banned by the address in fucked-up authoritarian countries, both for having less control over what it is and easy registration. I want them to explore some multi-site hydra approach so they can’t get put out of the game that easily. Moving your emails here means you can’t rely on a hope it would work tomorrow.
At the end of the day. The main thing people should be aware of is that Cloud Storage is basically you keeping your data on someone else’s computer so you must assume as a rule of thumb that that data is vulnerable even if it is allegedly encrypted.
Now Proton has its own share of controversies which make its advertising of Privacy less trustworthy, at least in my eyes. I won’t go into details so feel free to do your own research, it will only take a couple web searches.
I personally also use Proton Mail for work but I always try to never communicate anything through it that I feel is risky in the context of my critical personal info.
Self Hosting is not the best solution when it comes to Mail Servers because of the whole domain trust issue yada yada as far as I am aware. (I don’t have the resources or the money to self host so I am going through someone else’s shared experience.) But it’s definitely the most concrete solution for privacy.
