Nearly all public health experts say we will have to employ testing and tracing on a massive scale to combat the spread of COVID-19. This has led a number of countries and tech companies to develop coronavirus contact tracing apps for smartphones. The idea is that such an app would allow someone who tested positive …

Many companies that handle personal information reassure their users by saying that all the data is “anonymized.” If you don’t know any better, that sounds reassuring. However, the method most companies use to anonymize data and the size of modern databases make it easy for attackers to re-identify individuals. From medical records to cell phone …

Zoom has seen a flood of new users as the COVID-19 outbreak forces more and more employees to transition to working from home. Zoom’s big selling point is its near-frictionless video calls. However, new users should be aware of the company’s privacy practices. By looking through its privacy policy and some of its support documents, …

During this American presidential election campaign season, politicians have scored points calling out tech companies for abusing the personal data of their users. Yet many political campaigns are engaged in very similar practices.  Political campaigns are now sophisticated data operations that collect mass amounts of personal information from their supporters and potential voters. Their methodology …

Every once in a while, we are asked the question, why should I pay for ProtonMail when I can use Gmail for free? Or why should I pay for ProtonMail when there are cheaper email services available? This is actually a good question worthy of a deeper discussion.  Google isn’t actually free First, it’s important …

The Internet of Things has come a long way since the turn of the century when it was a buzzword used by futurists and entrepreneurs. Although not yet as ubiquitous as some predicted a decade ago, Internet-connected devices have crept into many aspects of our daily lives. Now, with everything from vacuum cleaners to climate …

The smartphone is one of the most invasive devices ever invented. It’s easy to forget that, of course, because we are so familiar with them, and they are so useful. But while you might value your smartphone for the convenience it gives you, tech companies value it for an entirely different reason: it is collecting …

Your web browser is the vehicle that carries you around the Internet to your desired websites. As such, it knows precisely what sites you have visited, how long you spent browsing them, and what you clicked on (or almost clicked on). Anyone who has access to your web browser can have a window into your …

Since we launched in 2014, ProtonMail has been the preferred email service provider for activists around the world. Protecting freedom of speech and democracy is, after all, one of the main reasons we created ProtonMail in the first place. Normally, this would not be of particular interest to anyone: we have always believed that all …

This is a challenging question to answer, but it is also a fair one, so we wanted to share our views about this in a blog post. In general, we strive to make our service require as little trust as possible. We encrypt data in a way that does not allow us to decrypt it, …

Google recently generated a flurry of coverage about its supposed privacy pivot, including an op-ed in The New York Times by chief executive Sundar Pichai. “We feel privileged that billions of people trust products like Search, Chrome, Maps, and Android to help them every day,” Pichai wrote. It’s not that we necessarily trust Google. It’s …

Without end-to-end encryption, Gmail confidential mode is little more than a marketing strategy. Learn why privacy experts call Google’s privacy features “misleading.” When we launched ProtonMail nearly five years ago, we pioneered a new kind of email service: one that gives you control of your own data. All emails are end-to-end encrypted and zero-access encrypted, …