Post by @josephcox@infosec.exchange

New: you think you know Proton, but you really don't.

I spoke to 8 current employees, got Slack chats, meeting audio, and an AI manifesto written by its CTO.

CEO Andy Yen critiques AI in public. But inside, he is pushing everyone to use AI, even those with security concerns.

“That’s bullshit and loser thinking,” Yen wrote. “Stop thinking always of how to be slower, and focus more on how to be faster.”

https://www.404media.co/manifestos-fear-and-loser-thinking-inside-protons-ai-reckoning/

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aBe

@hamoid@genart.social 58 min. ago

@josephcox I paid ~500€ for a two-year family plan (6 users). If this CEO stays it won't happen again.

Jonathan

@jmcrookston@mastodon.social yesterday

@josephcox

Thanks for this. I just opened an account and I won't bother doing anything with it at all.

Quasit

@Quasit@hear-me.social yesterday

@josephcox

The head of every CEO needs to roll.

b҉

@b@convo.casa yesterday

@josephcox > !⃝ Report a problem

4 media files

Report form:

Summary (required)
this is a big problem to me, and not what I expect from a paid service focused on privacy & security - https://
www.404media.co/manifestos-fear-and-loser-thinking-inside-protons-ai-reckoning/ — Report form: Summary (required) this is a big problem to me, and not what I expect from a paid service focused on privacy & security - https:// www.404media.co/manifestos-fear-and-loser-thinking-inside-protons-ai-reckoning/

Report form:

Steps to reproduce
Andy Yen dangerously mismanaging product development & maintenance (and frankly, mistreating skilled employees). Andy Yen projecting about "loser thinking" while continuing to make ludicrous statements pertaining to politics and technical matters. — Report form: Steps to reproduce Andy Yen dangerously mismanaging product development & maintenance (and frankly, mistreating skilled employees). Andy Yen projecting about "loser thinking" while continuing to make ludicrous statements pertaining to politics and technical matters.

Report form:

Expected results
Lovingly handcrafted code focused on privacy and security.
Skilled employees not being undermined and mistreated by out-of-touch and/or deranged tech CEOS. — Report form: Expected results Lovingly handcrafted code focused on privacy and security. Skilled employees not being undermined and mistreated by out-of-touch and/or deranged tech CEOS.

Report form:

Actual results
Serious risks with major potential fallout due to Andy Yen's demands for Al slop work speedup. High risk of professional & reputational consequences for longtime paid users, particularly those whose work requires confidentiality. — Report form: Actual results Serious risks with major potential fallout due to Andy Yen's demands for Al slop work speedup. High risk of professional & reputational consequences for longtime paid users, particularly those whose work requires confidentiality.

copharynx (was qoph@octodon)

@copharynx@sfba.social yesterday

@josephcox Thanks for this. I just sent a bunch of folks a "fuck I'm really sorry I recommended Proton to replace gmail" message.

And checked Tuta's website where I read that @Tutanota at least isn't shoving AI into the user experience (tho I'm wondering about the back end & GenAI use).

And checked the @runbox website for its GenAI policy, which looks decent to non-techie me, and appropriate for an employee-owned company that runs on renewables https://runbox.com/about/runbox-generative-ai-policy/

Runbox - Sustainable, Private & Secure Email — Made in Norway

Generative AI Policy | Runbox

Learn how Runbox approaches generative AI — including what we use, what we don't, and how your data stays protected.

Joseph Dickson

@josephdickson@mastodon.social yesterday

@josephcox This is an example of how afraid companies are to take ownership of anything in the age of LLMs. Using AI to draft social media responses. 🙄

> Initially, using AI was banned inside Proton, but the company has since approved AI for all sorts of use cases internally, including processing financial data, drafting customer-facing responses on Reddit and LinkedIn...

Dr. Christopher Kunz

@christopherkunz@chaos.social yesterday

@josephcox After APT Down last year, I developed a healthy distrust in Proton, especially due to the really weird way Andy Yen strong-armed his own abuse department, overriding their (possibly faulty) decisions and taking to Reddit to "explain" this.

I am fairly unhappy to see that my distrust might have been justified by more than this one incident. Accosting a colleague like that is absolutely atrocious. Oh yeah, and the AI kool-aid.

Utarg of Utarg 🔬🇪🇺🇸🇪🇬🇧🇺🇦

@toxy@mastodon.acc.sunet.se yesterday

@josephcox I’m putting in place a migration from Proton as we speak. Why can’t we have nice things

Citizencat

@citizencat@mastodon.social yesterday

@josephcox
Hmm, Steam Deck uses proton. Not good.

Alison Meeks

@Alison@beige.party yesterday

@josephcox And that ended any recommendation of Proton as a GMail alternative.

Infoseepage

@Infoseepage@mastodon.social yesterday

@josephcox Do we even have to get into the multiple times he's signaled alt-right alignment through word choice and phrasing and that he's still running around with a "Heil Hitler" dog-whistle personal username?