The move came after 404 Media published an investigation into how Proton CEO Andy Yen was aggressively pushing AI across Proton despite security concerns and the culture of fear he has created.
I sort of get where he is coming from. AI has made shockingly fast rapid advances in being able to code. AI code should definitely be pentested, even if it’s just with more AI.
There are many developers and tech privacy enthusiasts who hate AI coding for whatever reason, and I get his perspective. He just isn’t being very strategic because he’s acting like a normal CEO and not caring that much about emotional impact because he’s in a leadership position, forgetting that a privacy-focused user base will not tolerate typical CEO behavior.
I already have real fears regarding Proton. What sort of privacy company doesn’t accept Monero??? What sort of privacy company uses US-based Zendesk which could be required to cooperate with a police state with a secret dragnet warrant??? Proton has a very active fraud/abuse detection system. Even if it is necessary, how could that be technically possible if messages are encrypted???
But we should also remember that if you are a poor person in a repressed regime, you can get free Proton services to help get you more access to information. They are very nice about that. Who made that choice so that a poor person in a poor country can get these services for free if they are poor? Andy Yen made that decision.
People make mistakes and if Andy Yen realizes he needs to be more emotionally intelligent and aware and tries to change, perhaps people should be willing to forgive him. Proton does a lot of good overall despite recent concerning behavior.
I will also add that it’s concerning that their AI Lumo is integrated into so much potentially and it’s not clear where the processing occurs, if the processing itself is encrypted during the processing, and what models are used. For example, if Lumo is using US-based company data centers in the US and the model has to be given unencrypted data to process, then in theory if there’s a gag-order demand on the data center, all of that information can be extracted. I see very little information about that, which is concerning.
I sort of get where he is coming from. AI has made shockingly fast rapid advances in being able to code. AI code should definitely be pentested, even if it’s just with more AI.
There are many developers and tech privacy enthusiasts who hate AI coding for whatever reason, and I get his perspective. He just isn’t being very strategic because he’s acting like a normal CEO and not caring that much about emotional impact because he’s in a leadership position, forgetting that a privacy-focused user base will not tolerate typical CEO behavior.
I already have real fears regarding Proton. What sort of privacy company doesn’t accept Monero??? What sort of privacy company uses US-based Zendesk which could be required to cooperate with a police state with a secret dragnet warrant??? Proton has a very active fraud/abuse detection system. Even if it is necessary, how could that be technically possible if messages are encrypted???
But we should also remember that if you are a poor person in a repressed regime, you can get free Proton services to help get you more access to information. They are very nice about that. Who made that choice so that a poor person in a poor country can get these services for free if they are poor? Andy Yen made that decision.
People make mistakes and if Andy Yen realizes he needs to be more emotionally intelligent and aware and tries to change, perhaps people should be willing to forgive him. Proton does a lot of good overall despite recent concerning behavior.
I will also add that it’s concerning that their AI Lumo is integrated into so much potentially and it’s not clear where the processing occurs, if the processing itself is encrypted during the processing, and what models are used. For example, if Lumo is using US-based company data centers in the US and the model has to be given unencrypted data to process, then in theory if there’s a gag-order demand on the data center, all of that information can be extracted. I see very little information about that, which is concerning.