Proton Mail: Difference between revisions

Up to 2021, Protonmail has advertised itself as a private and secure service with the following under "Anonymous email":  <blockquote>"No personal information is required to create your secure email account. By default, we do not keep any IP logs which can be linked to your anonymous email account. Your privacy comes first."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Secure email: Proton is free encrypted email. |url=https://proton.me/mail |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831234120/https://protonmail.com/ |archive-date=2021-08-31 |website=ProtonMail}}</ref>  </blockquote>As it turned out, that statement was false. In September 2021, a member of a French activist group had been using ProtonMail to communicate with other groups. As an investigation was launched involving them, the email provider handed over the user's IP address and other data, including the device they were using.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lomas |first=Natasha |date=2021-09-06 |title=ProtonMail logged IP address of French activist after order by Swiss authorities |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/ |url-status=live |access-date=2025-11-19 |website=TechCrunch |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260112062019/https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/ |archive-date=12 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Salter |first=Jim |date=2021-09-07 |title=ProtonMail removed “we do not keep any IP logs” from its privacy policy |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/09/privacy-focused-protonmail-provided-a-users-ip-address-to-authorities/ |access-date=2025-11-19 |website=Ars Technica |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251209002537/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/09/privacy-focused-protonmail-provided-a-users-ip-address-to-authorities/ |archive-date=9 Dec 2025}}</ref> The section was changed shortly after getting attention from news outlets and the general public.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Secure email: ProtonMail is free encrypted email. |url=https://proton.me |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907033644/https://protonmail.com/ |archive-date=2021-09-07 |access-date=2025-11-19 |website=ProtonMail}}</ref>  <!-- This needs a format restructure or a main incident page, but I can't be bothered to learn it right now. I just do tone and citations... -raster -->