this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2026
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Privacy

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Andy Yen's values are incompatible with Proton's mission. He advocates for poor security practices, supports fascists, and he verbally abuses his subordinates. As such, I can no longer in good conscience continue to financially support a company with such terrible leadership.

Unfortunately for me, my subscription just renewed last month on a multi year plan, but it does give me time to browse for and experiment with alternatives.

If you're able, I encourage you to do the same and cite Andy Yen as the driving factor for your decision. We can't let these tech bro fascists destroy what little semblance of privacy we have left.

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[–] Magnum@infosec.pub 2 points 8 hours ago

I already did that lol

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I honestly thought the CEO is a fascist is old news? I've been wondering for awhile why Lemmy seems to have forgotten this, despite the fact that it was Lemmy that raised the issue about Andy.

[–] Brahvim@lemmy.zip 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

On Lemmy first? Where would that be?

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

It was a long time ago when he posted supporting Trump on a social media post.

[–] LordKitsuna@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

I use them for email and I'm not moving anytime soon. Thankfully, 98% of my email, probably more like 99.9% if I'm being honest, is just worthless junk. I don't care if they see it. I was self-hosting my email server for like eight years until Debian decided to just eviscerate itself one day on a system update for some reason. I gave up, moved to them, and I don't have the time or the energy to move again.

I don't use any of their other services. I have my own seafile for file storage. I have my own Wireguard on a VPS for VPN usage. Etc etc

[–] wheres_frank@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 16 hours ago

I just switched to Migadu. Super good plans and very good if you have multiple domains.

When I canceled Proton, I put the reason, "Your CEO is a lunatic."

[–] WhosMansIsThis@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I'm sure in a few days we're going to hear about an all hands or internal memo where Andy apologizes for his "poor communication" and how hes "committed to being a better leader by being a better communicator^tm^"

But how he communicates - his tone, his word choice, his inflection - is just an indictment of his character. I honestly don't give a fuck about the kind of person he is. Mostly because selfishly, I don't have to.

The main issue is his ideas. The things he's advocating for are fundamentally incompatible with a business whos only two value propositions are privacy and security.

A.I. is surveillance tech. Period. Every interaction, from keystroke to window focus, is meticulously categorized, logged, and sent back to to a handful of people like Andy Yen; Who then use it to draw conclusions that reaffirm their own cognitive biases. Its a doom-loop for C-level execs that suffer from main character syndrome. Because surely, the only reason the company is successful at all is because of the CEOs hard work and business acumen and any perceived failures come from those lazy engineers that only think about going slow. Like losers.

Im not the biggest fan of A.I. but theres a huge difference between asking it to help spot a difficult bug and using it to spy on your subordinates and determine their individual productivity rankings.

Like, that guy seriously can't be in charge of the privacy company. We're fucked.

[–] Brahvim@lemmy.zip 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

"Every interaction"? Starting when...?

[–] WhosMansIsThis@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 hours ago

Starting from the first one.

[–] Yukonfooty@lemmy.ca 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Name me a VPN that is comparable to Proton and I'll move to that and Tutamail in a heartbeat.

[–] begrudgedcarfolk@sh.itjust.works 4 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (3 children)

IVPN, Windscribe VPN, Obscura VPN, Air VPN

[–] Keltha@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

If you're leaving proton because of their AI use, Windscribe is a bad alternative. You can't even directly reach their customer support anymore, you have to go through their AI and it decides if it's worth getting a human involved. Yes, even for paying customers.

If you raise the issue on their subreddit, the CEO encourages you to resign.

Good to know about Windscribe, one less company to research, solely for the poor support. I'm leaning more towards IVPN anyways because they have some add-on features that I'm interested in.

I'm not a purist, I don't expect everything to be AI free, that's just unrealistic unfortunately. It's a shame though because it's built off of the theft of open source work. My issue is Andy being a fascist, being verbally abusive to his employees, sacrificing security for speed, all for the sake of saving a few dollars.

[–] Yukonfooty@lemmy.ca 3 points 15 hours ago

Thank you. Checking these out.

[–] Obviouslywrong@lemmy.world 0 points 13 hours ago

They don't have as many access points.

[–] Innerworld@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago (2 children)
[–] begrudgedcarfolk@sh.itjust.works 9 points 20 hours ago

Talk is cheap, things won't change while Andy is at the helm.

[–] Innerworld@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

This is what I wanted to see. A blanket bullshit "excuse" apologizing for nothing and trying to make this about AI instead of him being an asshole.

This proves they are not willing to replace him even for these serious offenses. I will be cancelling my subsription today.

[–] Hueristic_Autistic@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago

Really!!! I switched to proton mail for jobs. Fuck!!!

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I didn't give them money, so unfortunately I can't give less than nothing.

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

You've done all you can.

Except, if you're ever in their area, you could try to get a tour and steal someone's pens.

[–] Bipauler@sh.itjust.works 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Paper clips, Scotch tape, post-it notes are also great targets. just saying.

Oh and don't forget sharpies!

[–] ComradeMiao@lemmy.world 0 points 14 hours ago

I switched from Proton to Tuta a while ago, then realized they both suck for the same reason—walled garden.

Airvpn is a reliable option for torrenting in my experience.

Mailbox.org is a great option for mail, based in Germany. They have some things included other than mail, including a drive.

[–] futurefossil@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Sooo... what VPNs do y'all like

[–] auntieclokwise@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago

iVPN is supposed to be good.

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