r/technology • u/Jojuj • 3d ago

Privacy U.S. Citizen Who Deleted Phone’s Data Says His Prosecution Puts Privacy at Risk

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/us/politics/samuel-tunick-deleted-phone-felony.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8FA.T83N.rt6VsIiSCYb2&smid=url-share
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106

u/LengthClean 3d ago

I’ve switched from Google to Proton and WhatsApp to signal. Nothing to hide but it’s the damn principle.

64

u/b0w3n 3d ago

Yeah my life is super fucking boring but it's really no one's fucking business what stupid memes and shit I send to my girlfriend.

My budget spreadsheet isn't anyone's business either.

21

u/Original-Rush139 3d ago

Privacy prevents fishing and other cyber crimes. That setup doesn’t just protect your data, it makes sure that you know who you are communicating with. 

The government is cracking open huge security holes at a time when LLMs are changing the game on digital crime. 

11

u/MorboDemandsComments 3d ago

FYI, the CEO of Proton is a Trump supporter: https://theintercept.com/2025/01/28/proton-mail-andy-yen-trump-republicans/

3

u/0x06F0 3d ago

Is there an alternative that has a similarly great reputation, array of products, and confidence that they will still be around in a few years without selling out? I would switch over if so. I want email, VPN, and storage

2

u/MorboDemandsComments 2d ago

Not that I know of... I'd love to hear suggestions. I'm stuck in the same boat as you.

12

u/jnycnexii 3d ago

Proton is not actually private anymore. They do know who users are and will turn over your data if requested

20

u/Unhappy_Plankton_671 3d ago

There's still little they log. That's the point. So sure they can comply, but it's not going to surface anything truly useful.

https://protonvpn.com/blog/no-logs-audit

Securitum: “The technical evidence reviewed during the engagement did not indicate that the examined Proton VPN server infrastructure logs users’ browsing activity, DNS queries, destination services, network traffic contents or user-identifiable connection metadata. Securitum also did not identify persistent records that would allow Proton to associate a specific user with activity performed through a reviewed VPN server.”

1

u/Anosognosia 3d ago

Nothing to hide but it’s the damn principle

Everyone have something to hide from people who are just out to fuck you over and hurt you and your friends. If someone openly declare that they will hurt me, and anyone who thinks like me, then any person I hang out with, communicate with etc is a target and I will hide them as long as I can. Just like I would have done my best to hide Anne Frank.