From 2019, but still [this fullstop signals not only the end of that sentence, but also the end of this statement]. And here [those two words indicate that new information/context is being added; it is being indicated that we now no longer talk about the article, which the uneditorialized post title references and the post link leads to] something a bit more recent about the glorious “swiss privacy” [this makes it further clear that the following is about swiss privacy in general and not about Proton] https://www.republik.ch/2024/01/09/der-bund-ueberwacht-uns-alle
key points
[they were added because the main article is about Proton and written in english and because OP assumed that most in here are unable to read german and care less about general swiss privacy than they do care about Proton]
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New reporting based on documents and court records shows that since 2017, the internet traffic of Swiss citizens has been massively monitored and read when it crosses borders, which happens routinely even for communication within Switzerland.
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The intelligence service's claims that purely domestic Swiss internet traffic is collected are false, given how internet routing actually works. Traffic flows across borders dynamically, not through static "cables" as claimed.
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All data is stored and searched, including retrospectively, meaning the intelligence service builds an ever growing haystack of private communication to dig through. This includes communication from journalists and lawyers that should be protected.
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In 2023, steps were taken to expand monitoring further by requiring more Swiss internet providers to enable access to their infrastructure, including providers that don't directly deal with cross-border traffic. This contradicts previous claims about how the monitoring would work.
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Critics argue this invalidates assurances given earlier by the government and intelligence officials and constitutes mass surveillance that violates civil liberties. There are plans in 2024 to revise the intelligence law again, possibly to retroactively legalize monitoring practices already occurring.
As a paying customer, i wanna hear from the other side, plus wanna see if this ping works across ActivityPub services, pinging @protonmail@mastodon.social
@jherazob @birdcat
EDIT: We apologize, the original response was concerned with a different article, so we have removed it.
Regarding Mr. Steiger's allegations, they have also refuted by the Swiss public prosecutor.
You can read our CEO's statement here: https://twitter.com/andyyen/status/1422658759600525319
Regarding the revelations about surveillance, Proton users are not impacted, because we aren't a telecommunications service: https://proton.me/blog/court-strengthens-email-privacy. More details here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1930vnh/comment/kh71qch/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
and sorry but how is this not false advertising? https://proton.me/blog/switzerland
@birdcat Please read the edited version of our response above, and accept our sincere apologies for sharing some links that were irrelevant to your original concerns: https://mastodon.social/@protonmail/111958985077770856.
The benefits of running Proton's services under Swiss legislation described in the article above remain correct.
Thanks, appreciate it. And just to be clear, i found this article on the internet and thought its interesting to share with a community who claims to care about privacy; it was not meant to be a slander attack or anything, and I remain like 80% sure that youre not CIA 😜