Geneva-based company ProtonMail, a provider of secure and anonymous email services that leverages the reputation of “Swiss confidentiality”,hasplayed a role in the arrest of a French climate activist.The company is nowinthe crosshairs of online critics,butexperts say thatSwiss lawsleft the companyno choice.
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Adapted from Italian by Dominique Soguel-dit-Picard
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Quand la «confidentialité suisse» tombe dans les filets de la surveillance
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Quando la “riservatezza svizzera” cade nella rete della sorveglianza Original
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Portal suíço de e-mail privado entra na mira dos serviços de inteligência
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Encrypted email serviceProtonMailhasbeen at thecentreof asocial media stormExternal linkeversince a police report revealed that the company shared the IP address of one of its users as part of a French investigation that led to the arrest of climate activists.
ProtonMailis a Swiss company founded in 2013 at the initiative of a group of scientists from CERN in Geneva and theBoston-basedMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). From its inception, the company has focused onuser privacy and security,External linkbrandishingstringent Swiss privacy laws and a commitment to protect “civil libertiesonline” as part of its credentials.
ProtonMailalso guaranteed that “by default” it would not store any IP addresses that could be linked to users’ email accounts.
However, when cornered by the Swiss authorities, the company was forced to provide the very data that made it possible to identify one of its users and activists of the “Youth for ClimateExternal link” movement,who waswanted in France.
Inspired bySwedish activistGreta Thunberg’s“Fridays for Future”External link,the environmental group also fights against gentrification and real estate speculation and has set up actions such as the “climate camp” in one of the districts ofthe French capital. The French activist was among those who occupied commercial premises and apartments near Place Sainte Marthe in Paris.
Andy Yen, CEO ofProtonMail, stressed that the company supports the causes of activists using its service, but it cannot do so by breaking Swiss laws and ignoring court orders.ProtonMail, in fact, had to comply with a Swiss court order, which came after the French police had requestedSwiss cooperationthrough Europol, making use of international judicial assistance.
No privacy on the Internet
Despite this, the Geneva-based company has beencriticisedfor its lack of transparency and clarity in promoting a service that primarily promises anonymity and respect for the privacy of its users and users.
According toProtonMail’stransparency report,the recording of IP addresses is only allowed in “extreme criminal cases”. At the same time, the company stated that “no information is required to create your secure email account,” a phrase later removed from the privacy policy.
Yen responded to the allegations by stating that the Internet is not anonymous andbydenouncingthe use of legal tools for serious crimes in a case like this. However, the CEO stressed that “there was no possibility of appealing this particular request.”
What does Swiss law require?
According to Swiss lawyerFrançois Charlet, the criminal offenses charged against the prosecuted French citizen were serious and cooperation with France was therefore justified, as stipulated in theFederal Act on International Assistance in Criminal MattersExternal link.Furthermore, telecommunication service providers are subject to legal obligations in the case of investigations involving the surveillance of postal traffic.
The activist behind the email address was being prosecuted for trespassing, theft and property damage, crimes – the latter two – that enable surveillance,according to CharletExternal link,aspecialistin technology, crime and security.
Contacted by SWI swissinfo.ch, theFederal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC)External linkalso confirmed the legitimacy of the legal action by the Swiss authorities in compliance with the Data Protection Act.“It appears that the disclosure was made in accordance with legal requirements,” thecommissioners said.
Unclear communication
ProtonMail, therefore, was left with no choice but to cooperate.
Can it be said, however, to have “misled” its users?Notaccording to Charlet.
“Perhaps it can be reproached for unclear communication”, says the lawyer, but this “does not mean that it can evade specific and justified requests from the Swiss authorities”.
Is theProtonMailcase yet another “non-case”fuelledby social media? Or perhaps marketing using “Swiss confidentiality” is a double-edged sword?
“There are worse laws than Swisslaw,”Yenstates in arecent blog entryExternal linkon the issue.Certainly not acatchy marketing phrase.
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