ProtonMail privacy questions

[Revenant]

A lot of providers have switched to ProtonMail now that SESTA/FOSTA is going to be law.

Microsoft, Google, and others have straight out said they are going to be screening your e-mail. So privacy is gone without end-to-end encryption.

But I notice you have a choice of "@ProtonMail.com", or "@ProtonMail.ch", and possibly others.

The ".ch" ending is for Switzerland, which I assume means that the servers are hosted in Switzerland. That seems to be one extra bit of safety because if the servers are in the US, then maybe more data can be obtained with a warrant.

Does anyone know if the ".com" servers are in the US? Or might they still be located outside the US?

Does anyone have any thoughts on the issue at all?

[bambino]

Originally Posted by Revenant

A lot of providers have switched to ProtonMail now that SESTA/FOSTA is going to be law.

Microsoft, Google, and others have straight out said they are going to be screening your e-mail. So privacy is gone without end-to-end encryption.

But I notice you have a choice of "@ProtonMail.com", or "@ProtonMail.ch", and possibly others.

The ".ch" ending is for Switzerland, which I assume means that the servers are hosted in Switzerland. That seems to be one extra bit of safety because if the servers are in the US, then maybe more data can be obtained with a warrant.

Does anyone know if the ".com" servers are in the US? Or might they still be located outside the US?

Does anyone have any thoughts on the issue at all?

If it ends in com, net or org, the US government can obtain the information under the cloud act.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD_Act

[gnadfly]

Originally Posted by Revenant

A lot of providers have switched to ProtonMail now that SESTA/FOSTA is going to be law.

Microsoft, Google, and others have straight out said they are going to be screening your e-mail. So privacy is gone without end-to-end encryption.

But I notice you have a choice of "@ProtonMail.com", or "@ProtonMail.ch", and possibly others.

The ".ch" ending is for Switzerland, which I assume means that the servers are hosted in Switzerland. That seems to be one extra bit of safety because if the servers are in the US, then maybe more data can be obtained with a warrant.

Does anyone know if the ".com" servers are in the US? Or might they still be located outside the US?

Does anyone have any thoughts on the issue at all?

I use the free version with encryption. My understanding is the servers are in SZ.

[Revenant]

Originally Posted by gnadfly

I use the free version with encryption. My understanding is the servers are in SZ.

Thanks.

I did not know there was a free version. Any idea what the difference is between paid and free?

I'm going to sign up for an account using a cheap throw -away Galaxy notepad via a Starbucks WiFi connection. No more hobby-related anything from home computers or personal cellphone.

[Revenant]

Originally Posted by bambino

If it ends in com, net or org, the US government can obtain the information under the cloud act.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD_Act

Thanks for the reference.

[Revenant]

If heard that if you download the Tor browser, you automatically get flagged by the FBI. The government view is that Tor users are very disproportionately organized crime members, hackers, and people who like highly illegal types of pornography. Those are the major reasons for being on the Dark Web.

So, I never bothered getting Tor, but I am considering Duck Duck Go browser, which is founded on the premise of not tracking or retaining any of your search history, e-mail, website visited, etc.

Any thought on Duck Duck Go?

[Muscleup]

Originally Posted by Revenant

If heard that if you download the Tor browser, you automatically get flagged by the FBI. The government view is that Tor users are very disproportionately organized crime members, hackers, and people who like highly illegal types of pornography. Those are the major reasons for being on the Dark Web.

So, I never bothered getting Tor, but I am considering Duck Duck Go browser, which is founded on the premise of not tracking or retaining any of your search history, e-mail, website visited, etc.

Any thought on Duck Duck Go?

TOR is a must. Use a VPN overlay and a computer that has not been assigned. Use an alias on computer and use only for surfing dark web. If that doesn't make sense, don't attempt. DDG is available using this process.

[garhkal]

Originally Posted by Revenant

If heard that if you download the Tor browser, you automatically get flagged by the FBI. The government view is that Tor users are very disproportionately organized crime members, hackers, and people who like highly illegal types of pornography. Those are the major reasons for being on the Dark Web.

So, I never bothered getting Tor, but I am considering Duck Duck Go browser, which is founded on the premise of not tracking or retaining any of your search history, e-mail, website visited, etc.

Any thought on Duck Duck Go?

I love DDG, which is why it's set as my Default search engine..

[Revenant]

Originally Posted by Muscleup

TOR is a must. Use a VPN overlay and a computer that has not been assigned. Use an alias on computer and use only for surfing dark web. If that doesn't make sense, don't attempt. DDG is available using this process.

I think I know what you are hinting at.

I assume I need to buy an iPad or some other tablet and without ever entering my real name on it, I should go to a Starbucks or some other place with free WiFi and download TOR.

After that, I use that tablet and TOR only for Dark Web and never access any account I own in real life, like Gmail, or bank account, or airline, etc.

[dilbert firestorm]

are they really going to screen email for this type of activity?

[Unique_Carpenter]

Originally Posted by dilbert firestorm

are they really going to screen email for this type of activity?

They already screen.
Supposed to be only traffic that crosses borders.
But....
All they have to do is increase the list of words they look for to flag an email

[Revenant]

Originally Posted by dilbert firestorm

are they really going to screen email for this type of activity?

In view of SESTA/FOSTA enactment, big tech companies have already said that they will be screening everything. They don't even bother to pretend you have privacy anymore.

Microsoft has straight up said they will monitor Skype and cancel accounts just for the utterance of obscenities.

It has long been know that Gmail and Hotmail monitor your e-mails so they can target you with advertisements. Haven't you ever noticed that those advertisement e-mails you get are typically targeted to you? IN other words, you are a male aged 30-50, so you see a lot of car ads, Viagra ads, home mortgage ads, etc.

But why don't you ever get e-mail ads for Tampons? Or birth control pills? It is because you have been profiled based on your e-mails.

[gnadfly]

Proton mail is supposedly encrypted at the server also, so you have to enter a another password there to get your emails in addition to using SSL.

So Dedicated device, public internet, VPN, secured email, TOR, non tracking browser and search engines.

The problem right off the bat is many VPNs are banned (inaccessible) at public internet locations.

So are you mining bit coins with this?

[Revenant]

Originally Posted by gnadfly

Proton mail is supposedly encrypted at the server also, so you have to enter a another password there to get your emails in addition to using SSL.

So Dedicated device, public internet, VPN, secured email, TOR, non tracking browser and search engines.

The problem right off the bat is many VPNs are banned (inaccessible) at public internet locations.

So are you mining bit coins with this?

I'm just taking all of my escort correspondence private.

I've got a paid ProtonMail.ch account now that includes Proton VPN. I think the VPN slows things down a bit - more latency after clicking a link.

But a whole lot of escorts now have ProtonMail.ch accounts also. That means you get complete encryption on both ends since both parties are using ProtonMail.

Fuck Google and Gmail.

I'm dumping Facebook, too, in the near future, as well as Twitter and Instagram.

I may pay cash to get a simple burner tablet with no cell service, just WiFi, set up new accounts on Twitter or Instagram, and only access them at Starbucks or other public WiFi spots.

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Anyone have any insights or experiences with kolabnow.com email?

In other news - just remember that da gubmint co-invented TOR. Not saying it is bad. In fact the more traffic there the better for all. Also important to note that it also involves several good housekeeping accessories to help keep things clean. They include how you use the browser etc.