Technology

All you have to do as a CEO is shut the fuck up and let your product do the talking. The less I hear about your shit views the more likely I am to stay with your product.

I've been putting it off, because it took me more than a year to migrate away from Gmail. But this is hard to ignore. I'm tired, fam.

This is the quoted article: https://www.404media.co/manifestos-fear-and-loser-thinking-inside-protons-ai-reckoning/

Andy Yen, the CEO of Proton, had a message for an employee in the company’s security Slack channel who urged the company to at least take a few days to pentest newly written code before pushing it live. “That’s bullshit and loser thinking. Of course it’s possible to be fast and secure,” Yen wrote in the channel at the end of August. “Stop thinking always of how to be slower, and focus more on how to be faster.”

In a follow-up message, Yen reiterated his point: “only losers think like that.” His ultimate message for the team was to “stop lovingly handcrafting all our code and use AI more.”

Everyone go vote at their feedback website. There are several posts in the General Suggestions section that suggest Andy Yen step down. Mark them as critical.

Say and do stupid shit, get stupid prizes.

Proton's reputation has been getting shaky. First it was the poorly worded communication regarding support for Republicans. Then the privacy in question when they handed user's data over to authorities. Now this.

How's that for loser thinking, Andy?

Is Andy Yen the asian version of Johnny Cash?

The original 404 Media article.

404 Media is a great publication with a strong track record. They are worth paying for.

When someone shows you who they really are, believe them the first time. And sadly, this is who Proton is right now, this guy. And this is who the Proton board is, people who support this guy and his vision.

This is proton. Shop accordingly.

I already cancelled a couple of years ago when this same man posted a pro-Trump comment. That seems to have been forgotten about, some people dismissed it as just a comment, I've even been downvoted since for trying to warn people, and now look.

This is terrible, but what is even worse is that they partnered with a Zionist Swiss university, that supports Israeli military and out criminal sanctions against students protesting against the genocide of Palestinians.

Partnership announcement.

Israel military connection and student prosecution.

Slagging off his employees, slagging off his customers. Real bright spark this guy.

It's a bit surprising how many CEO's express disdain for their users and employees.

When employees are reduced to an "input resource" number on a spreadsheet, and they sit insulated from user complaints, and likely surround themselves with sycophants, I suppose it's inevitable.

Power corrupts, you can see it all around us once you start looking.

He's literally why I never signed up with Proton. Bullett dodged.

I am, once again, offering to take over as CEO of Proton.

My work focuses on nonprofit-stakeholder-government relations. Specifically how organizations mediate between state agencies and stakeholders. No agenda beyond aligning mission, vision, and values, and keeping it that way.

Reach out if you prefer that to help guide Proton somewhere other than the trash bin of distrust.

This guy sounds like a Mini Musk and I hate Musk.

They've started collecting red flags like they were the Soviet Union. Welp, this is the last one I'll watch them pick up, though.

Too late Andy. You are not going to be part of the tech overlord aristocracy, no matter how much you simp now.

Maybe it's a good thing for you. May avoid the french doctor's invention that way.

The only reason I haven't cancelled yet is because I moved my family, including my parents, onto a family plan with them, and that's going to be a lot of work to move everyone again.

But this shit fucking sucks. I recommended this product to my loved ones because it's supposed to be trustworthy and secure, and now I find out it's neither of those things.

If you're a Proton customer right now and not in a position to simply cancel your account, submit a support ticket laying out your concerns. I got a detailed and lengthy response back within a day (one that was clearly not a form letter either, it directly addressed all the points I raised). Flooding their support channels will make it clear that they are in some serious shit here.

Write to the Proton Foundation too. Demand that Yen be removed from the board and the company, and that serious changes be made to the leadership at Proton to ensure this never happens again.

What a fucking time to be alive.

If anyone nowadays builds something they can't just bask in the success, the feel the need to spew ideologies all of a sudden.

I feel like a good rule of thumb for Andy to say something, seemingly publicly or privately, is to just take a breath and then shut the fuck up instead. It seems like nothing he ever says brings comfort and confidence to his company's users.

Guilty.

And I made sure they knew precisely why.

Finally migrated to Proton in July, cancelled yesterday; had paid for the full year but have already started moving.

I was so happy to be supporting a company I believed in and was looking forward to the services getting better and better... Then the crap started to kick off: re-interviews for all, with us or against us mentality, cancelling the re-interviews, doubling-down and insulting your team, behaving like a petulant child. Then Bart posted the tone-deaf AI manifesto...and that seems to be it so far...

I get that AI is here, I get that the cat is out of the bag. It's fair to suggest that it is no longer possible to not use AI in the codeflow... For me this less about AI=good/Bad, more about attitude and behaviour; and how that shapes the ethos.

I'm so glad I delayed switching over to proton.

Also fuck that guy. What an ass.

Fire that loser, maybe then (some) people come back.

Posteo mail, excellwnt provider, good ethics https://posteo.de/en

He really doesnt understand the user base that Proton built over the years. He sounds like an asshole that was built by a Tiger mom and Frog dad.

I'm so tired of this

Does anyone have VPN replacement recommendations? (Besides mullvad, already looking into them)

If they are gonna have no qc and insecure code, they should also lower the price, right?

I took my payment method off so it can't auto renew. If there aren't significant changes, I'm gone. Really sucks because I bought all in on their product stack, just pretty much all of it. Oh well.

Was thinking of switching after the BS from last year. My subscription ended this month and I’ve finally finished changing my services. Also did not want everything in one basket.

Been using fastmail for the past 5 years. Really happy with the service.