Proton Mail discloses activist IP address to police: Difference between revisions
Add proton's mail response. Add title for the incident |
SinexTitan (talk | contribs) added to the protonmail category |
||
| Line 14: | Line 14: | ||
{{Ph-I-B}} | {{Ph-I-B}} | ||
== ProtonMail provides the IP address of a climate activist to police == | ==ProtonMail provides the IP address of a climate activist to police== | ||
In early September 2021, Swiss authorities obtained a court order that resulted in Proton logging the IP address and device information for a particular Proton Mail account.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lomas |first=Natasha |last2=Dillet |first2=Romain |date=6 September 2021 |title=ProtonMail logged IP address of French activist after order by Swiss authorities |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906115002/https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/ |archive-date=6 September 2021 |access-date=2026-03-19 |work=TechCrunch}}</ref> That connection data was provided to investigators and was reported to have contributed to identification in the related investigation and an arrest involving an activist associated with protests in France.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bateman |first=Tom |date=2021-09-07 |title=ProtonMail criticised for passing arrested French climate activist's IP address to police |url=https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/09/07/protonmail-criticised-for-passing-arrested-french-climate-activist-s-ip-address-to-police |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907144956/https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/09/07/protonmail-criticised-for-passing-arrested-french-climate-activist-s-ip-address-to-police |archive-date=2021-09-07 |access-date=2026-03-19 |work=Euro News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bode |first=Karl |date=2021-09-07 |title=ProtonMail Under Fire For Sharing ClActivist Data With French Authorities |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/protonmail-under-fire-for-sharing-clactivist-data-with-french-authorities/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129191946/https://www.vice.com/en/article/protonmail-under-fire-for-sharing-clactivist-data-with-french-authorities/ |archive-date=29 January 2025 |access-date=2026-03-19 |work=Vice}}</ref> | In early September 2021, Swiss authorities obtained a court order that resulted in Proton logging the IP address and device information for a particular Proton Mail account.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lomas |first=Natasha |last2=Dillet |first2=Romain |date=6 September 2021 |title=ProtonMail logged IP address of French activist after order by Swiss authorities |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906115002/https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/ |archive-date=6 September 2021 |access-date=2026-03-19 |work=TechCrunch}}</ref> That connection data was provided to investigators and was reported to have contributed to identification in the related investigation and an arrest involving an activist associated with protests in France.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bateman |first=Tom |date=2021-09-07 |title=ProtonMail criticised for passing arrested French climate activist's IP address to police |url=https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/09/07/protonmail-criticised-for-passing-arrested-french-climate-activist-s-ip-address-to-police |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907144956/https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/09/07/protonmail-criticised-for-passing-arrested-french-climate-activist-s-ip-address-to-police |archive-date=2021-09-07 |access-date=2026-03-19 |work=Euro News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bode |first=Karl |date=2021-09-07 |title=ProtonMail Under Fire For Sharing ClActivist Data With French Authorities |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/protonmail-under-fire-for-sharing-clactivist-data-with-french-authorities/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129191946/https://www.vice.com/en/article/protonmail-under-fire-for-sharing-clactivist-data-with-french-authorities/ |archive-date=29 January 2025 |access-date=2026-03-19 |work=Vice}}</ref> | ||
== Proton's response == | ==Proton's response== | ||
"This case shows that Proton Mail works as it is designed to. The identity and location of the activist was already known to the French authorities (they had already been evicted once before for squatting, and the nature of squatting means that their location is known). Therefore, the authorities were most likely targeting email contents which might have provided further incriminating evidence. The fact that Proton Mail was not able to hand over any messages even under legal order proves that our encryption works, and very likely will be of great assistance to the activist in this case. Had they been using any other email provider, the outcome would have been very different" | "This case shows that Proton Mail works as it is designed to. The identity and location of the activist was already known to the French authorities (they had already been evicted once before for squatting, and the nature of squatting means that their location is known). Therefore, the authorities were most likely targeting email contents which might have provided further incriminating evidence. The fact that Proton Mail was not able to hand over any messages even under legal order proves that our encryption works, and very likely will be of great assistance to the activist in this case. Had they been using any other email provider, the outcome would have been very different" | ||
| Line 36: | Line 36: | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
[[Category:Proton Mail]] | |||