Scratch under the surface of every for profit privacy / anonymity service, you find shitty libertarian cryptobros who probably post racist memes on 4chan while whining about feminism in the man-o-sphere. That doesn't speak to the nature of people who care about privacy, it speaks to the nature of people who care about privacy and also want to do capitalism.

I moved several years worth of emails off their platform and closed my subscription on Friday. Enough is enough. I’m not giving this guy another dime. I specifically pointed to andy88’s behaviour in the “why are you cancelling” dialogue. I feel for the good people who work at that company and don’t support this, but we all have choices to make.

Totally in good faith. A post from last year? Yea, suck my dick andy. Deleting my account asap.

Get. Off. Reddit.

As swiss person I have to meet and talk to this guy, he can not be that stupid!

We definitely have something like the republicans party, it is called SVP (Schweizerische Volkspartei). SVP uses exactly the same tactics as republicans, like anti “woke”, anti regulation, anti common media, pro hate-speech(“anti censorship”), etc.

We just not have a single party to counter it, like democrats, but like 10 parties with little nuances.

We have some small parties besides SVP “on the republican site” but those tend to be irrelevant. Maybe, the anti corona party has a some relevance, still, but I guess their power is sinking.

I personally support the pirate party, which mainly stands for privacy, no matter if left or right, but the party it self is leading to the left (democratic) side.

At least, that is how I understand our situation here.

I can't be the only one who struggled to read that, and for general accessibility purposes since I'm already here:

Image ID:

andy1011000 Proton CEO posted:

"People honestly seem to forget that I live in Switzerland, where Republican/Democrat doesn't mean anything, and Trump isn't even on our ballot to be voted for..."

Onyx376. replied:

"The point is that fighting for a more just and equal society is not just about fighting for the fundamental right to privacy but also for all other fundamental rights, including individual rights and life. When you, as the CEO of a company that starts from these principles, nod positively to whatever action a political figure like Trump, who is known for always flagrantly putting his private interests ahead of those of his own nation, makes speeches about eliminating minorities, hurting their rights as citizens and flirting with Nazi movements, it is understandable that members of the privacy community are disappointed as this reveals a little about who is being the face of a company that should follow contrary principles. But now we really know what "freedom" means to you."

Glad I cancelled. If the CEO is this clueless and/or and/or ignorant and/or disingenuous do I really want them responsible for my private data?

What is this about?

Andy out here shooting straight through his foot and putting holes in his boat's hull.

I seem to remember that Switzerland has a history of profiting from their relationships with Nazi's. Thus they might not be a good source of advice as to what to do about Nazi's.

Ridiculous.

He specifically started talking about American party politics, unprompted, making sweeping statements about both Democrats and Republicans. NOW he wants to blame us for...being concerned with his views on American party politics? Dude. Get real.

Saying stupid shit now and then is forgivable, but not if you take it in as the new nucleus of your public image. Why do so many public figures have this compulsion to double down combatively?

Holy shit he's still arguing with people about this today?

Now to reply to the post itself, I think this sums it up:

Though the sad truth is that almost every single product or service we use are owned and run by people with similar opinions, it is literally the nature of the capitalist beast, it's how it function, and why it will always decay in to fascism - because those with the power and the money (not just those at the very very top, but several levels bellow them, too, like this guy) will always and forever care solely about maintaining it and creating more for themselves, that's it. And to do that, they have to side with whichever dictator-du-jour benefits them the most.

Remember - there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, and this is only one of the reasons why.

A wise man once told me, don't mess with politics. The moment you show stance (which usually isn't beneficial), you cut off options from yourself and endanger customer relationship.

Proton should just do business as usual, without that single post things would probably be just fine.

andy88, if he cares about proton, should have resigned yesterday

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1i2ff6q/call_for_andy_yen_to_resign/

UPDATE: Andy Reply

According to Andy's logic, if Hitler were the president of some unfortunate country, we should differentiate the boss from his good nominees. Even using a company founded by an entire community to show a good evaluation made by one of its founders to give him a loving pat on the back and show the world that he is not completely bad as they think, but not meaning that the founder agrees with all his innocent actions, of course, such as disregarding the rights of many people around the world because they are just part of the democratic game.