50
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2026
50 points (90.3% liked)
Privacy
9345 readers
9 users here now
A community for Lemmy users interested in privacy
Rules:
- Be civil
- No spam posting
- Keep posts on-topic
- No trolling
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
This is why it's always struck me as unreasonable for proton to claim they care about user privacy. If they did, they wouldn't provide an email service, as it is inherently impossible to adaquately protect the metadata if it is sent to a different mail server. A better approach would be for them to explain why you can have email or privacy, but not both, and to point people to a separate service if they insist on email, so it is decoupled from any of their other services. Accepting payment through a means that isn't tied to your personal identity would be a good step too.
They do accept bitcoin, and if that's not private enough, they also let you mail them cash in an envelope.
Mailing cash is probably less private. Your mail is postmarked, and can be tracked. The serial numbers on the bills can be tracked too. Not to mention the envelope itself, fingerprints, possible DNA in the saliva when you licked it to seal it, your handwriting or printing to address it, how unique the stamp is...
Only if all that information is collected and stored. Digital finance systems tend to track every transaction and keep a record of them (because of legal requirements among other reasons). With cash in an envelope a government can't check all the info you suggested a year after the payment has happened, perhaps not even after a few days.