Revealed: How French Authorities Arrested A User On ProtonMail

Picture this: You stumble on ProtonMail, an end-to-end encrypted email service founded in 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland by scientists who devoted their time to produce the world’s largest secure email service, then what did you see?

You are expected to have the leverage of privacy, as that appears to be the prime element behind ProtonMail, so inherently, subscribers would expect to enjoy maximum confidentiality and anonymity.

But then, there is a sort of drift, if a report by TechCrunch is anything to go by. In the report, the email service has been facing a fury of criticism, especially after it gave up a French climate activist’s IP address to Swiss police,

But is should be noted that the company was acting based on a request issued by French authorities, a part of a bigger investigation into a number of climate activists who are currently residing in Paris.

French authorities sought help from Swiss Officials in which the founders of the service had to obey, since ProtonMail is based in Switzerland. Thus, logging IP addresses from users in “extreme criminal cases,” was inevitable, according to the company’s own transparency report.

“Proton received a legally binding order from Swiss authorities which we are obligated to comply with. There was no possibility to appeal this particular request,” Andy Yen, Proton CEO wrote in a post titled “Important clarifications regarding arrest of climate activist.”

“The prosecution in this particular case was very aggressive. Unfortunately, this is a pattern we have increasingly seen in recent years around the world,” Yen added.

Nevertheless, the order did not force the founder to unveil the contents of the activist’s email, since they are encrypted and cannot be accessed by Proton. However Proton’s CEO note that a similar order would not have the option to provide ProtonVPN metadata, so far the VPNs fall under different requirements according to Swiss law.

The standstill however had rough backlash from ProtonMail users who expected the sites to be absolutely secure and anonymous.

Yen promised users to update the service’s rules and regulations to “better clarify ProtonMail’s obligations in cases of criminal prosecution.”

Asides users not feeling safe while using a platform that allegedly ensures privacy at all times, The Verge recounted the alarming increase of Swiss court orders, taking into consideration those issued by foreign officials.

“In 2020, Proton complied with over 3,000 data orders from Swiss courts, more than double the number served in the previous year,” The Verge noted.

This however should be a key lesson to users, indicating that the internet is not a secure and private place, regardless of reassurances of safety from a platform.