5 mo. ago • 99%

Proton is transitioning towards a non-profit structure

proton.me Proton is transitioning towards a non-profit structure | Proton

To ensure our mission always comes first, Proton is transitioning to a non-profit structure and formalizing our promise of people before profits.

50 comments

wow this is very good news. I always feared that at some point some billionaire ass will buy Proton. That will be impossible now.

109
- "that will be impossible now"
  
  Life uh... Finds a way.
  
  58
  
  Example: ~~open~~closedAI
  
  24
Proton’s mission has always been unique. Most companies are created to be sold, and they achieve that by placing profit above all other considerations. For most businesses providing “services” to the masses, the easiest way to profit has been to misuse user data and engage in surveillance capitalism to the detriment of society and democracy. At Proton, we have intentionally taken a different path to achieve a more difficult mission. We want to remake the internet in a way that is private by default and serves the interests of all of society, not just the interests of a few Silicon Valley tech giants. In short, we want to create an internet that is able and willing to defend freedom, no matter the cost.

97
They pulled the opposite of the enshitification, haha.

Positification ftw

93
- The word is "engoodening".
  
  28
- That's a much better opposite than envomitification.
  
  14
  
  Or enemisation/suppositorisation
  
  10
- Unshittification.
  
  10
Andy is my hero. He wanted to create an ecosystem to rival Microsoft and Google, without their bullshit.

Since conception, his mission statement was to work for the people who supported Proton's dream, and now he's ensuring that dream doesn't get fucked with by people with bad incentives.

LEGEND

68
As their customer, I'm extremely happy to hear that.

44
This is amazing news. I've been thinking about switching to Proton for a while now. Think this may just be the drop that makes me do it.

43
- Swapped to their mail from Google finally about a year ago, it was a pain in the ass, but have been slowly removing myself from the google ecosystem.
  
  23
  
  Exactly the same here. It's not perfect... it's slow, it doesn't work with your mobile mail client... but it's better than the supervillain levels of evil that Google is pushing out.
  
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Most companies try to earn community trust through words but proton put it all out on the table.

42
Wow. 👏👏👏

29
Heartening news. I look forward to Proton's future.

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🎇🎆🎇🎆🎇🎆🎇🎆🎇!!!!!

19
The comments here and technology community on lemmy.ml vs the ones that on the technology at lemmy.world thread sure were an interesting contrast when it was first posted...

But anyways, this is great news.

11
What Mozilla should've been.

An organisation with products people want to pay for. Instead they ended up as a shill for Google with a CEO more concerned about her paycheck than actually making good products 😞

11
- You mean 3-4 million for a non profit CEO are too much?
  
  Think about her constant worrying about users not donating enough for her goal of constant raises without offering any actual value...
  
  If we all donate 20% of our monthly salary to Mozilla by the next year she could reach 5m.
  
  0
If they enable IMAP for all accounts that'd be awesome. I've been reluctant to use their mail system in case it just becomes another lock-in.

9
- Yes, not being enable to integrate with the system both Linux and Android is what is bothering me the most.
  
  4
  
  But isn't this exactly what the Protonmail bridge is for? I don't use Proton myself (self-hosted Mailcow) but afaik Imap doesn't support public keys/PGP the way Proton is using it, hence one needs the bridge to use normal Imap clients like Thunderbird.
  
  3
With all the problems they have, that is respectable.

-10
- What problems do they have?
  
  15
  
  Their customer service is trash to begin with. Took em days to reply to my email saying I wasn't able to log in to my account cause it said it didn't exist, then I tried to make an account with the same username and it said it was already taken. Both can't be true. Their reply was literally, ticket has been closed please email again if you still need help.
  
  5
  
  Features. Their Mail doesn't work for me because I want SMTP and IMAP. Their cloud storage does not do Linux and can't be automated, their applications just seem rushed
  
  2
Well, It wold be reassuring if they would say at least "sorry" for giving IP address of eco-activists to the french intelligence. If only they earn money, but they did it for free. It's an improvement, but it's still not enough

-18
- They were legally obligated to. There is so much misinformation surrounding that "controversy."
  
  26
  
  They choose to comply with the law. Other provider of service choose to not to. I would be okay if their main argument wouldn't be privacy, but it is.
  
  0
- I'm out of the loop, can you please explain or link to a source?
  
  3
  
  https://proton.me/blog/climate-activist-arrest
  
  Long story short: Proton got ordered to give the IP by a court and they will not go to jail for you. Surprise.
  
  9
I don't know if this would be a good idea.

Sometimes it's good to run things for a profit, that way there's extra in case something needs to be upgraded

-20
- We can all tell you didn't read the article.
  
  14
- Non-profit doesn't mean you don't make money, just that the money you do make doesn't go to shareholders but instead back into the company
  
  8

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