In order to make my ProtonMail account untraceable, should I access it with a VPN only, or is it okay if I use it with my regular usage and internet connection?
I want to keep it private and separate from my actual email accounts. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!
According to Protonmail and under current Swiss law, Protonmail can be compelled to log user data. The only thing protonmail can log is your IP address. That’s what happened to an activist few years ago.
Under current Swiss law, email and VPN are treated differently, and Proton VPN cannot be compelled to log user data, so yeah using a VPN to access protonmail makes sense.
Source : Important clarifications regarding arrest of climate activist | Proton
Not really clear what it is you’re asking for here. But based on what you’ve stated you’re fine using your regular ISP; using a different DNS provider or using a VPN isn’t going to make the fact that you’re using ProtonMail “untraceable”.
It’s possible that what you want to look into is SimpleLogin. That would prevent others from knowing you have a ProtonMail account.
VPNs itself provide little privacy. However, using a Swiss VPN operator can give a better protection due to Swiss laws not requiring IP addresses to be logged.
But it is unclear to me what you try to achieve? Is it anonymity or better privacy? For anonymity (not being able to trace communication back to you as an individual), using Tor is the only real option. For better privacy (where you want to protect your data), ordinary Proton without VPN will in most cases suffice.
VPNs, however, won’t give you anonymity. It was never designed to give VPN users anonymity. Neither privacy, as the VPN service provider can see what you do regardless. That VPN providers claim they don’t log IP addresses, is just a claim - which is hard (if not impossible) to really confirm. From a technical point of view, it is impossible hide what you do via a VPN tunnel from the VPN service provider’s point of view.
Please don’t refer to that case as an “activist” case. Yes, they were some kind of activists. But the reason they were being tracked by French law enforcement was not due to their activism activities. They had occupied a building illegally, which is an offence in most countries.
If you want label them, rather say something like “French house occupants” or something along those lines. That’s actually more correct, based on what I dug up through various media sources when this all played out a while back.
and yes SimpleLogin is super helpful. I use the mask, to provide on websites. And can easily discard the mask once I start getting spams.
Yes, I believe that makes sense. I think accessing it with your ISP would be fine. Was wondering whether the Tracking cookies or the third-party cookies could somehow identify this proton email belonging to this specific Gmail account. Sorry not really sure how the tracking cookies work. tbh.
What if that provider is Proton itself? How private would you consider their VPN?
No you are not censored for speaking „the truth“. Your comment was removed because it was wrong. Unlike you stated, Proton cannot, by swiss law, give out information to governements other than the swiss governement. They did hand it out to the swiss governement, as Proton has to adhere to swiss laws. That‘s a massive difference compared to your statement.
Protecting or offering privacy does not mean lawless state. Privacy does not mean you are in a wild west zone where everything is allowed. Proton is protecting its users privacy and at the same time, as a swiss company, has to follow swiss laws. The only law that matters is Swiss law.
Here are some ressources to educate yourself more on this topic:
I’m from France and occupying a building illegally isn’t a serious matter at all here.
Proton Mail has the ability to prevent email trackers and third-party content from loading automatically. These are the strictest settings (and ones I recommend to use) shown on iOS. Tracking cookies are stored in your browser, so using a VPN would not impact that - you should utilize an ad blocker or block all third party cookies in your web browser.
No VPNs are private nor anonymous, even Proton VPN. What you really should ask is “How much do you trust Proton VPN?”
Proton VPN is maybe second on my list. Number one is my own VPN server. And I usually only use Proton VPN when I can’t connect directly to my own VPN server. Then I first connect to Proton VPN and then to my own private VPN server.
But on Android, nested tunnels isn’t possible though - so in that case I consider if my mobile really need to be online or not, and it needs to be online - if I can enable tethering on my laptop to for my mobile to connect to and give Internet via my laptop with the nested VPN or similar setups.
Nice. I’m going to move to France and pick whichever house I want. I’m sure the existing family won’t mind moving out and continuing to pay the mortgage for me.
Is it allowed or disallowed by law to occupy a building?
Interesting perspective, Thanks!
What I mean is if someone occupies an empty building or house, it will be very difficult for the police to move him out quickly.
First they can’t do it during winter and they can’t cut off electricity and water on him because of human rights laws.
Second they have to find him a new place or shelter.
So yeah it’s still forbidden by law but it’s not a relatively serious matter where French Police has to contact Swiss Police and file a complain and request access to his data and ip address.They did that only because he is an activist.
Serious matters are : terrorism, pedophilia, rape …
I never said it’s ok or it’s allowed to do such a thing.
disallowed.
see my comment where I explained
I originally responded as a joke, but man that is just crazy.
Then it doesn’t matter if it’s a “big” or “small” matter. It’s still an offence.
Yes still an offence, but not something they will bother asking Swiss police to provide them personal info and stuff.
They did that because he was an activist and not because of occupying a building illegally.