Facebook, the owner of WhatsApp, has forced an ultimatum upon WhatsApp’s users: share your personal data and metadata from the end-to-end encrypted messenger with Facebook, or lose access to your WhatsApp account.  Users are being informed of this new requirement via an in-app notification. If they do not accept the sweeping changes to WhatsApp’s terms …

We’re happy to announce that, with your support, the 2020 Lifetime account auction and raffle raised approximately $300,000 for good causes around the world!  The three Lifetime accounts that we auctioned went for about $14,500 each, while 15,348 raffle tickets were sold raising an additional $154,380. On top of this, Proton will be contributing an …

Today we’re adding an important new feature to the Proton Drive beta. You can now share any Proton Drive file with anyone by using a secure, shareable link. If you need to share sensitive material, you can require the link’s recipient to enter a password before they can access the file. This year has seen …

On Nov. 19, we asked you which organizations our community should support with our 2020 Lifetime account auction and raffle. We received hundreds of excellent suggestions, and after carefully considering where our contribution would be most effective and thoroughly vetting the organizations, we are excited to announce the beneficiaries we have selected. Given the challenges …

On Monday, The Council of the European Union, which is made up of government ministers from the 27 EU member countries, released a vague, five-page resolution that calls for new rules to govern the use of encryption in Europe. The resolution, titled “The Council Resolution on Encryption,” is non-binding and does not provide any specifics …

UPDATE Dec. 1, 2020: Given the number of user suggestions, we will announce which organizations we selected and begin the Lifetime account auction and raffle the week of Dec. 7. For the past two years, we have auctioned three Proton Lifetime accounts to raise money for worthy causes. Last year, we raised over $60,000 to …

Over the past several years, data retention laws have become more and more popular in European countries. These require internet service providers, telecom companies, and online platforms to store metadata about their users, making it much easier for governments to implement mass surveillance. On Oct. 6, the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU) …

All users who have a paid plan can use the Import-Export app to easily transfer emails between accounts or download your messages to your device.  This app lets you import your entire inbox from another email service provider, such as Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook, to your secure ProtonMail account. You can also export your emails …

The number of Google searches in all languages for privacy-focused Gmail alternatives (e.g., “private email” or “encrypted email”) increased 39 percent worldwide between May 2019 and April 2020.  This surge in interest is a promising sign that online privacy is starting to become a priority for people. It also indicates that a broad swath of …

We recently wrote about a proposed law in the United States known as the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act (LAED Act), which would basically ban encryption by requiring companies to build a backdoor. But this is not the only effort underway in the US Congress that attempts to destroy privacy as we know it. …

TikTok, the video-sharing platform owned by the Chinese social media giant ByteDance, is one of the most popular social media services in the world, with an estimated 800 million users. However, its zealous data collection, use of Chinese infrastructure, and its parent company’s close ties to the Chinese Communist Party make it a perfect tool …

The United States Congress is considering a law that would destroy online privacy as we know it and essentially outlaw the most secure American tech products, such as Signal. The law would ban end-to-end encryption for large companies and require developers to break their own products at the request of law enforcement agencies. The bill …