There are some good signals for now and it is unlikely this will pass:
The Federal Council has collected feedback on the planned revision of the Ordinance on the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic. There was hardly any positive feedback.
The Federal Council’s plans to revise the Ordinance on the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic (Vüpf) have failed the consultation process: All major parties and numerous associations clearly rejected the plan.
https://www.inside-it.ch/vupf-revision-faellt-in-der-vernehmlassung-komplett-durch-20250507
Such a unified opinion across all parties in Switzerland is rare. This topic has also made the rounds in swiss medias recently with a big echo, it is fought by many swiss organisations and companies and as example Proton will leave Switzerland if it were to somehow pass anyway: https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/we-would-be-less-confidential-than-google-proton-threatens-to-quit-switzerland-over-new-surveillance-law
Do I need to quote the article for people?
Switzerland’s current surveillance law instructs mobile networks and internet service providers (ISPs) to collect and store user data. The proposed change would extend this to VPNs, messaging apps, and social media companies.
Yen described it as a “major violation of the right to privacy” – something that directly contradicts Proton’s “privacy by default” tagline.
“This revision attempts to implement something that has been deemed illegal in the EU and the United States,” Yen claimed. “The only country in Europe with a roughly equivalent law is Russia.”
His response seems accurate and reasonable.
Thanks for the sanity. I’d also add this quote:
“The law would become almost identical to the one in force today in Russia. It’s an untenable situation. We would be less confidential as a company in Switzerland than Google, based in the United States. So it’s impossible for our business model.”
I think people read the headline and think he said they could operate in Russia when he clearly says they do not. Unfortunately he doesn’t say which countries he would even consider moving the business to.
Probably because they have no idea where they’d move at this stage. Every year an encryption backdoor is proposed in the EU. The EU is not far behind the US when it comes to mass surveillance and the destruction of privacy.
Seems like Somalia would be perfect
And the rest of the comments didn’t even bother to read more than the headline (as usual 😑).
People on Lemmy are suffering from a serious case of BEC and this thread is clear evidence of this guy being a target of it
I really don’t get why people follow this community just to shit on proton in every thread.
I shat on the CEO because he needed to do better, and this is a visible place to point that out.
For a company and application suite that is critical for privacy and security and bills itself as a privacy and security safe place, their number one job is to make sure that they’re not doxing people or cooperating unnecessarily with government to dox people.
I fully support their idea to move to a country that won’t compromise that mission.
It’s like that on Reddit too. Sometimes I wonder if its outside agitators (like you see on places like r/Brave, r/CalyxOS, etc), or if its just idiotic people who don’t know better…
Bitch eating crackers?
as in ‘look at this bitch eating crackers like he owns the place’. someone you don’t like does something harmless, but you’d criticize him no matter what he does.
A gaseous superfluid phase of matter in which all the particles have the same quantum state.
uhh… sure?
No, the vulgar slang one.
“This revision attempts to implement something that has been deemed illegal in the EU and the United States,” Yen claimed
What is he talking about? US and EU to some extent do store and track user data.
And don’t the big names have a surveillance pact to share each others data?
the ‘anglosphere intelligence alliance’ is known as Five Eyes
That’s only two and a half ass-holes. Who is missing from the US cumbag list?
The Swiss were not a part of that. After this, who knows, the United States would love to poke into the private lives of people who use Proton.
So just torrent on i2p. Jesus, these guys pretend a centralized for profit solution is the only option.
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Why don’t you explain to this privacy focused community why backdooring encryption and VPNs is a good thing.
He’s talking about a different Thing.
Trump appointed a Person that was heavily anti-big-tech. The Proton CEO congratulated him on this Choice, saying something along the Lines, I’m paraphrasing here, “this anti-big-tech guy is a big Win for the simple Man. 10 years ago, the Democrats were the ones who would have been the ones for the simple Man. now it is the Republicans. Congrats on your good Choice”.
This comment was meant purely in the Context of this Appointment and not as an Endorsement of the wider Trump Government or its Actions but has been misinterpreted as such by a lot of People.
This is probably what the OP meant.
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What exactly did he say wrong, because I don’t get it?
He praised Trump administration at one point and later double downed on the statement. So people are now just pissed on him by default
Specifically he supported one of Trump’s appointees on antitrust.
Also he said that Republicans were for the little guys and that Democrats were captured by corporations. This one is more controversial. Obviously both republicans and democrats have been bought by lobbyists.
But when it comes to Big Tech, I do think Republicans will do a good job with antitrust simply because Big Tech pisses Trump off a lot.
I simpliefied it a lot, yeah. I don’t remember the details, just the gist of it. Probably should have said so
My gmail account is one of the last things I need to de-google. I had been thinking of proton for a while, but I am not so sure anymore.
Proton is nice for degoogling because it offers the whole suite. I will also think really hard whether I’ll renew once the time comes. Don’t want ti go through the whole process again but there certainly is sour after taste with Proton these days
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What the fuck are you even talking about? The Swiss government wants to backdoor encryption, and the first thing you think is “oh look, a fascist”.
You buffoon.
He is a fascist trying to control governments. Why the fuck does he think he gets unequal representation. Oh right he is a corporate fuck that you give money to and !!pRiVaCy!!. Sorry, not sorry you got played.
Go cry somewhere to your corporate overlords bootlicker. I am done carrying water for business that will fuck everyone over once the time is right.
Produmb.
The definition of Fascist isn’t “anyone I don’t like”. Stop diluting the meaning.
trying to control governments. … unequal representation
He’s a capitalist.
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Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of …
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corporation trying to control the situation is textbook fascism.
Explain how please. I honestly don’t get it.
Trying to pretend a corporation hack is the good guy
What part of “capitalist” did you mistake for being good?
Show us your latest private messages and dox yourself if you think privacy is not an important thing.
If you think a corporate tool is going to save your privacy then you got serious problems. It is a fucking illusion and you are getting played by fascists.
Surely we need strong privacy laws, but defending this turd is not the way.
This turd is arguing against privacy invasive laws though.
You can dislike him but the message here is very clear.
It is like Elon Musk all over again. He is not calling for privacy to be enshrined in their constitution. He is not pushing policy to prevent this. He is not the fucking good guy threatening to pack up and leave and comparing to Russia (an absolutely dick comparison, the fucking asshole).
Why does he not promote actually policy that would force all companies to provide the same he does? It is easy, the company would lose their advantage. Produmb.
It’s a very good comparison, you absolute twatwaffle. Russia has the exact same law in the books.
Idk what the fuck your problem is, but you’re obviously a dumbass who doesn’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.
This wildly irresponsible and ignorant reactionary bullshit wins you a block. Dont need you showing up in any threads from here out…
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Whoever told you that was lying to you
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whoever told you that was lying to you
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While I also do not like what he’s been saying recently, this time he’s actually right. If you read the article, he’s saying Switzerland trying to enact laws that will force VPNs to collect and store user data will be akin to what Russia is doing. And that Proton can’t operate in a country that does that and they will have to move.
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First of all, he’s not a politician, and not a member of the government. He can ask for shit, but he can’t “work to keep” things how they are.
Second of all, this isn’t up for debate or public consideration. That isn’t how the Swiss government works. Unless they decide not to do it, it’s already a done deal. There’s no way for the public to prevent this unless the politicians suddenly change their mind. There’s no “working to keep” to be done.
So he complains about laws that would make privacy worse and your take is that he wants to sell data.
Your “suspicion” is based on…?
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Ah, the age old, vibe based “trust me, bro”.
He keeps saying some sketchy MAGA shit
Keeps saying? Any source or link? Are you aware of anything else besides that tweet?
keeps taking every opportunity he can to advocate for moving out of Switzerland,
He is not advocating to move out. He is clearly saying that he would be forced to IF the law passes because the whole reasons to advocate for being in Switzerland would be no more. Which brings us to the next point…
instead of working to keep Switzerland’s laws privacy-focused
How can you not see his statements as a way (The Way for him) to apply pressure on the government, which is exactly what he should be doing to “keep Switzerland’s laws privacy-focused”?
How else would you imagine he would “work” to keep laws privacy-focused? He is not in parliament, so bringing media attention and threatening to move a relatively big company seems the best way to me. What would be your idea?
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So, to be clear the “MAGA” stuff is all in the context of that tweet. I put it in quotes because it was not MAGA, but that’s another topic.
If he wanted to move out of Switzerland, why is he not doing that? It seems quite clear to me that he provides clear and obvious motivations why he would move away from Switzerland if this or that law passes. If the swiss law doesn’t protect privacy anymore, I expect them to move, if anything.
maybe he thinks that setting up educational programs about privacy and security so the Swiss push their politicians towards it are a waste of time
Have you seen to whom they donate the money for their annual charity fundraiser?
Anyway, educating the population is a decennial investment. How does it help when the Parliament discusses a law today?
or any number of alternatives instead of just uprooting and moving
Like what? And most importantly, why? Switzerland is often chosen by privacy companies because it has privacy-friendly laws. If these laws go away or change, why would I care for them to remain in Switzerland?
But given the track record of enshittificiation
Their is no such track record. Enshittifying is a term invented to describe companies degrading the services for their users in pursuit of bigger profits.
“if this happens, we would move to XYZ”
This means having made an enormous amount of due diligence which is realistic only if you actually want to move there.
I no longer trust rich CEOs supporting MAGA when they say “trust us with your data!”
Good call. But proton organizational structure is completely different, and so are their business model and target clientele, compared to other tech companies. I trust business interests more than anything else, because this is why companies do what they do.
P.s. His opinion is rightfully shared by other companies in the privacy space. I legitimately can’t find one single wrong thing in his position on this matter.
What every corporation that has grown too big has done. Not this guy though! I gave him my money so he is okay. Produmb.
