“Secure e-mail service” Protonmail delivers user data to authorities
Protonmail has sent the French police the IP address and the browser footprint of a user who is said to have used his email address for the “Youth for Climate” collective.
The Swiss service provider Proton likes to act as a haven for secure network communication. Mails are encrypted, IP addresses are not saved – VPN services are also offered. Anyone who wants to move safely on the Internet should rely on Proton. This is how the provider advertises its services.
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Police want to identify activist group
Anyone who does that can, however, experience a nasty surprise. This is what happened to a user from the community of the Paris activist collective “Youth for Climate”, which is attributed to the Fridays for Future movement. That was the target of police investigations because it was in the wake of the protests against the gentrification of the Place Sainte Marthe district in Paris through occupations and other illegal actions.
Around 20 people were arrested, several searches were carried out and several people were sentenced to probation or fines of several thousand euros. Seven people are waiting for their trial to begin in early 2022 for theft, property damage and trespassing. During the investigation, the police quickly came across members of the collective. They were able to identify them using photos posted on Instagram.
In the course of the investigation, the police had also found that the collective was communicating via a Protonmail address. They sent the Swiss company an information order via Europol. Protonmail responded to this order by transmitting the IP address and fingerprint of the browser used by the collective.
Proton does not store IP addresses – unless it does
This is amazing in that the service advertises that it does not store IP addresses. Protonmail therefore had to expressly change this practice for the requested address after the information order. The service provider explains that this is possible in exceptional cases. An official order justifies such an exception.
In addition, Proton boss Andy Yen points out via Twitter that his terms and conditions expressly exclude the use of the services for illegal activities in Switzerland. To what extent this information is expedient remains a mystery, because the user concerned has not yet been accused of having carried out illegal activities via e-mail.
If you use Protonmail and want to ensure that the service does not record your IP as an exception, you should only access the service via the Tor network or at least via VPN and in incognito mode of the browser. The VPN Protons should probably not be used for this – exceptions may apply.
