stock here: I haven’t seen any bullshit from Proton, including their VPN. From an email: It’s a bit weird that the founders met at CERN.
For those who have been following the Proton blog, you know that we have been doing a lot in the past months as part of our continued efforts to advance Proton’s mission to defend privacy and freedom globally. In this summer newsletter, we wanted to recap some of the major updates.
Introducing the Proton Foundation
Since our start as a company created by scientists who met at CERN 10 years ago, Proton has never been led by people who are driven by the maximization of profit. Whether it’s through the millions of dollars of grants that Proton has contributed toward defending freedom online, or the fact that we have never raised prices on existing users, as an organization we have always put people ahead of profits.In order to defend Proton’s values far into the future, we’re happy to announce the creation of the nonprofit Proton Foundation, which is now Proton’s primary shareholder. The foundation, with its legally binding statutes, ensures Proton will remain independent, self-sufficient, and community-first in perpetuity, and it commits the financial success of Proton to the public good. You can learn more at the foundation website or in the announcement blog post.Our journey over the last 10 years has been challenging, but with your unwavering support, we have made a difference together.
Collaborate securely in real time with Docs in Proton Drive
Billions of people use document editors like Google Docs and Microsoft 365 that can scan your data and are not secured with end-to-end encryption. Now you have a free alternative thanks to Docs in Proton Drive.With Docs, every keystroke is encrypted, so your work stays safe from data breaches, online surveillance, and can never be fed into AI models. Now you can collaborate on contracts, notes, creative writing, and more, knowing your drafts and comments are private. Take back control of your documents — try Docs in Proton Drive today.
VPN for democracy
We are making Proton VPN free in 20 countries with a history of censorship or political interference that have elections this year. The hope is that with online freedom and privacy protected, democracy can thrive. As a result, Proton VPN became the most downloaded app in Venezuela in recent weeks, and we hope to continue having this outsized impact around the world in places where democracy is most under threat. Thanks to your support, initiatives like this are possible, and they are changing the world.
Privacy WatchCompanies are always finding new ways to spy on you. Lately, they’ve even begun adding surveillance devices to the WiFi routers in your home and selling the data to internet service providers. Our investigation uncovered the extent of this surveillance and why you might want to use a VPN.A federal judge in the US has for the first time ruled that Google is a monopolist and has an illegal stranglehold on the search engine market. We have argued that the consequences of Big Tech’s bully tactics for consumers are less choice and more surveillance. Depending on the court’s next moves, your search bar might be more private soon.Hackers have already stolen over 1 billion records so far this year in attacks on healthcare providers, ISPs, and more. Find out if you’ve been affected with Dark Web Monitoring for credential leaks, available in all paid Proton plans.Politicians are no safer from data breaches than the rest of us, according to our recent analysis. We found the email addresses, passwords, and other sensitive data of 918 European officials have been leaked to dark web marketplaces. They could have been better protected if they had used hide-my-email aliases and dark web monitoring in Proton Pass.In April, the US government extended and dramatically expanded its warrantless surveillance program. This is just one part of an array of tools Americans use to spy on civilians and reinforces why Proton is based in Switzerland.
What’s happening at Proton
Proton Mail has a new Android app. In response to your feedback, we rebuilt it from the ground up to improve performance, add a new conversation view, and many other under-the-hood enhancements. Get the app.
We’ve also launched a new writing assistant, currently available to Visionary and business customers, called Scribe. It saves you time writing and proofreading emails, and it can run locally on your device, making it one of the first privacy-first writing assistants. Learn more.
In Proton Calendar, you can now color-code your events if you have a paid Proton Mail plan. And for those using the calendar iOS app, you can get a better look at your schedule thanks to the new 3-day view. Get the app.
In April, we announced that Standard Notes, an end-to-end encrypted note-taking app, is joining the Proton family. Like Proton, Standard Notes is open source and community-driven, making it a perfect fit for our mission. Get Standard Notes.
In addition to Docs, you now have other new ways to collaborate and back up your files in Proton Drive. Photo backups are now available in both Android and iPhone And with our enhanced file sharing options, you can grant and revoke access to files and folders directly with your recipients by entering their email addresses. Learn more.
Proton Pass is more convenient, secure, and accessible than ever. In recent months, we’ve rolled out a raft of improvements, including:Pass Monitor — Our new suite of online security tools that check for weak passwords, alert you if online services leak your data, and defend against account takeover attacksSecure Links — A unique feature that lets you securely share and manage access to logins, bank cards, and other items with anyone, even if they don’t use Proton PassApps for all devices — Use Proton Pass on every major platform: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and iPadOS, and all major browsersIdentities and biometric login — It’s now easy to organize and autofill information, such as your name, address, birth date, phone number, and more. Additionally, biometric login is now available on mobile devices for everyone and on desktop for those with paid plans.
Proton VPN is now the world’s largest and fastest VPN network after our recent expansion to over 6,500 servers in 112 countries. We have also made enhancements to all of the Proton VPN client apps in response to community feedback — including a redesign of the Android app, more feature parity for Linux, Stealth for Windows, and making the browser extension free for all users. Get the app.In the last 50 years, society has transitioned from cash payments to digital payments that big banks and Big Tech can monitor, which has eroded our privacy. These trends have handed immense power to central institutions and intermediaries whose interests are not aligned with the individuals they serve. Last month, we launched Proton Wallet, a safer way to hold Bitcoin, in early access in an effort to reverse this trend.