I've had a several Proton Mail email addresses for a few years now but haven't used them for much, communication with specific individuals only, and never as my 'mainstream' email address. It's not as slick or polished as some of the others but it's secure, non-invasive, easy to use and quite controllable by the end user; they're features I value.
Recently, after Microsoft 365 forced their AI bullshit called copilot (I nicknamed it 'cuntpilot') upon me, which infuriated me, I decided to cancel my Microsoft 365 account completely. It was going to be annoying as it'd mean I'd have to change my email address everywhere that had it but I'd had enough of Microsoft 365 snooping my emails and calendar; enough was enough, I no longer wanted those Microsoft 365 assholes to be able to create a profile on me based on them crawling through my emails and calendar.
Here's a farewell email I didn't send to Microsoft but wanted to. 😜
Rather than use one of my existing Proton Mail accounts I decided to set up a new one and also decided to pay for it (my others are free) as the features and benefits for a paid account are far greater than the free accounts although, having said that, the free accounts are still reasonably good.
Proton Mail is encrypted, no one can see what's there but me, there's no trackers and advertisers shadowing my every move, it's advertisement free, is based in a country with some of the most strict privacy laws (Switzerland) and well, if you're interested you'll click the link above and check it out for yourself.
It's been working really well, and this time I've decided to split up my email addresses to various different ones each with a specific use; they all feed to the one inbox but I've set rules for each and they split off to various folders tagged with different labels and colours so are easily identifiable. Granted, it's nothing fancy but that's ok, neither am I. It's laid out well though, has good functionality and is devoid of the nutbaggery other email providers force upon their users. I particularly like their dark web monitoring feature and alias emails which work the same as an email but masks the actual email address identity reducing the potential for spam and keeping my actual email addresses private. There's also a VPN and password manager among other features.
I'll admit that it's been super annoying to change my email address all over the place especially since many have convoluted security features and hoops to jump through, but I've got it all done other than a few that aren't all that important. I was committed to it though, I was furious about that copilot AI thing and simply fed up with the general bullshit Microsoft 365 offered. Google, Yahoo and all those others do it too. Considering I pay the same for my Proton Mail account as I did for the Microsoft 365 account it was a no-brainer.
Am I going to miss MSWord and Excel? Hmm, yeah probably a little, but I have been using LibreOffice and, whilst not very sexy compared to the MS Suite, it has what I need and it's been working really well. I can't get away from Microsoft at work as it's used for many applications, but in my personal life I chose to go through a little pain for what I see as the greater good.
If you want to tell me about your thoughts and opinions, or your own story of protecting your online and personal security email me at [email protected] and let me know...Ok, not really.
Instead, feel free to comment below. How do you feel about corporations having a personal profile of you and your life created by Microsoft, Google and the others? Are you fed up with spam and trackers, being marketed to, influenced and pushed in particular directions based on your emails, calendar entries and other online behaviours? Tell me about it, have a fucken rant (you deserve it) or make any comments you'd like.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
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I had similar feelings a couple of years ago with regards to my Gmail account. Which is when I signed up for Proton, first free and then went to the lowest tier of subscription. I really like it. Yet, unlike you I have not yet invested the time to make a full switch over to Proton i.e. am still using my gmail which - of course - has been compromised on the darkweb - sigh. I've also toyed with the idea of making an email address just for e.g. newsletter sign-ups (hardly do that anymore though, still...), a friends&family one, an artist one, hmm, I'm sure there could be more, oh, a crypto one. That reminds me, a couple of years ago I wanted to sign up with the Proton email for something crypto, maybe Bittrex? Guess what - Proton Mail wasn't allowed in their country due to its privacy restrictions - yeah... that.
It makes sense to have everything going there and with their multiple email thing and some other features a person is quite protected as far as emails go, not giving everyone the primary email address.
It might be a good idea to switch over your email address for whomever has it. I don't use my email addresses to communicate with friends and family much so I haven't switched them over yet but will shortly, when I have the time. Other than them, there's only a couple that I haven't switched: Dentist, chiropractor and so on. Everything else runs through Proton now and it's glorious...no spam.
As for the privacy thing...yep, that's the thing with Proton Mail, Switzerland has strict privacy laws so having the company operating from there means they have to abide by the law of the country. It's a good thing.
Lord, do I ever understand! I have a free proton account and, once I got used to the idiosyncracies, I like it just fine. You've given me the inspiration to do whatever it is I have to do to end my microsoft (hotmail) account for good.
Glad to hear it.
I think it's a little daunting to think about the change over, alerting all those places that have and need an email address but I think it's worth the time, has been for me. A little pain up front for a lot of gain down the track. I hope your process goes smoothly and don't forget, you can change most things and the unimportant stiff can wait until you interact with them once again, then the change can be made. Start using your proton mail for everything sooner rather than later though as the Microsoft nutbaggery will just get worse.
I'm a bit of a miser when it comes to paying for online stuff I can get for free. My brother gets pirated versions of everything. In business we paid for google this and google that but for my personal email it's proton...free version of course.
I don't mind free stuff but am often in need of more features than free versions provide so I make the decision based on need. Not much comes for free in life though, even if the costs are hidden.
Hi Galen, I am a person quite concerned about my privacy, as concerned as the European Commission, which seems to resent EU citizens protecting their personal data from the gaze of third parties.
In 2023 the European Commission created a body called "High-Level Group" (HLG) whose sole purpose is to solve what they see as a problem in collecting personal data on a massive scale: VPN, encrypted communications and Thor.
Which makes me think that before long in the EU or VPN and encrypted messaging services like Tutanota or Proton will stop operating in the EU if they don't provide their users' personal data: all their activity and geolocation.
This is what we have over here, and it is quite discouraging to see how we are moving towards 1984 at great speed and nobody seems to care.
Source:
I believe it's against Swiss law for companies there to provide information to the US and EU which is why they're so secure I guess, I like that aspect. I think it may cause issues though, as you say, that may see them banned from those areas.
In the European Union we are bound to have (more) problems with censorship and privacy. We already have them. 😔
Best regards.
There's so many problems all over the place and in every aspect of life and people generally turn a blind eye. It seems ease of use and comfort is more important to many people than their security.
On the second point, I can only say that I agree. That's just the way it is, and for me, even though I try to understand people's motivation, it's a pretty sad reality.
I'm glad I'm not using Microsoft, especially their email services. I stick to Tutanota and am also planning to move away from Gmail. I've never heard of ProtonMail, but I might give it a try.
It seems like a good move to change from the mainstream ones like Gmail and Microsoft and for me Proton Mail was the way to go. It will cost you nothing to investigate it and you may like what you see.
We have been proton for quite some time now. Way back the Ghouls at Google G-Mail got caught scraping e-mails and selling our personal info. Go figure huh..? Had Yahoo for a long time also. Still have them. Just do not ualse them. I send spam shizzit there. Let that eat up their servers power grids.
([email protected]) if you ever need it. Add it to your contacts
I'll put it in, good to hear your on the Proton Mail wagon. It's a good thing and I feel pretty glad to be rid of Microsoft.
This kind of topics, reminds me when I didn't know anything about computers, then I did more than 11 courses... and I started to give classes and started the fury of facebook... what a big shit that, means of social control and data collection for its big database.... like that many others, Google, Microsoft... the greats of the world manipulation... I loved the name of the email hahahaha
Do you know who is behind Fecebook? The cia..... big investor.
Social medias are all the same and all no good for anyone, but people can't seem to let them go.
I have seen in my classes the addiction they cause and they gawk at the screen.... There is nothing else they become more and more addicted. I think that is the purpose of the creators. To catch them!
Most of the blame lies with the person choosing to engage with social media. Those who own social medias prey on the weak minded.
Certainly, those who notice don't fall into their nets. We also take as many measures as possible so that they do not spy on our privacy.
Never understood why someone actually payed for Microsoft 365, just felt like huge moneygrab. I simply bought a Microsoft office key for 20 euros and that's it. If you only need word and excel, more than enough. And I love protonmail too!
So, you paid for it.
Yep, but unlike a yearly subscription that is roughly 4 times that amount, it's a one-time payment; the only think you don't have is the ongoing upgrades, and I would say 99% of people don't really need them. I did tried some of the free options like libreoffice and openoffice, but at least excel wise, Microsoft one still feels like the best.
Usually ive seen where people sell their private information because of money or probally things in the country are fucking hard. The world is fucked but who doesnt like its privacy that is why i tend to not lick out my informations if on a quick survey they might use it agaisnt you in the future
People do a lot of dumb things for money.
Haha exactly and they dont think about the consequences before taking such foolish actions
Yep, dumbasses.
Lolzzz exactly
Are you fed up with spam and trackers
It has become part of my online life. There's nothing we can do about it.
Microsoft incorporating AI into it's ecosystem is nothing new, coming 2025,i expect almost every online platfrom to have AI incorporated into it for one purpose or the other. Be it for good or bad.
And the choice will be left to anyone who want to use it or not.
being marketed to, influenced and pushed in particular directions based on your emails, calendar entries and other online behaviours?
Facebook is the gang leader of this act presently, Microsoft is learning from Facebook on this matter.
Do you use Facebook?
I used to use Proton with one of the contract jobs I was doing for a while. It seemed fairly adept at doing everything I needed it to do. I think the company I was working with did some work for Proton at one point and that's why everyone was able to have an address. I have been looking into setting something up myself. I did notice a few years ago that Proton did disclose some of their users info in some kind of investigation that was going on. They didn't turn over the emails since those are encrypted, but they did give enough bits of into that the authorities were eventually able to prosecute someone.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/secure-email-provider-protonmail-handed-over-user-data-to-europol/
Not nearly as concerning as what most of the other big companies do with our data, but still important to know.
Some use emails like Proton some use others, it's a choice people make for themselves I guess, for their own reasons. People who use Facebook and Instagram and Twitter etc. might as well have no cyber security so it doesn't matter for them, they're already fucked.
Yeah, that is a good point. I still think Proton is a solid play. It looks like they have a deal going right now where you can get a year for about $24. I am kicking around signing up and tying it to my domain. I just wanted you to be aware of that news because it happened a bit ago and it kind of slid under the radar I think.
It's worth a look I think and for the 60% off they have currently there's not much to lose.
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