There are some good signals for now and it is unlikely this will pass:
The Federal Council has collected feedback on the planned revision of the Ordinance on the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic. There was hardly any positive feedback.
The Federal Council’s plans to revise the Ordinance on the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic (Vüpf) have failed the consultation process: All major parties and numerous associations clearly rejected the plan.
https://www.inside-it.ch/vupf-revision-faellt-in-der-vernehmlassung-komplett-durch-20250507
Such a unified opinion across all parties in Switzerland is rare. This topic has also made the rounds in swiss medias recently with a big echo, it is fought by many swiss organisations and companies and as example Proton will leave Switzerland if it were to somehow pass anyway: https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/we-would-be-less-confidential-than-google-proton-threatens-to-quit-switzerland-over-new-surveillance-law
Do I need to quote the article for people?
Switzerland’s current surveillance law instructs mobile networks and internet service providers (ISPs) to collect and store user data. The proposed change would extend this to VPNs, messaging apps, and social media companies.
Yen described it as a “major violation of the right to privacy” – something that directly contradicts Proton’s “privacy by default” tagline.
“This revision attempts to implement something that has been deemed illegal in the EU and the United States,” Yen claimed. “The only country in Europe with a roughly equivalent law is Russia.”
His response seems accurate and reasonable.
And the rest of the comments didn’t even bother to read more than the headline (as usual 😑).
So just torrent on i2p. Jesus, these guys pretend a centralized for profit solution is the only option.
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Whoever told you that was lying to you
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whoever told you that was lying to you
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While I also do not like what he’s been saying recently, this time he’s actually right. If you read the article, he’s saying Switzerland trying to enact laws that will force VPNs to collect and store user data will be akin to what Russia is doing. And that Proton can’t operate in a country that does that and they will have to move.
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So he complains about laws that would make privacy worse and your take is that he wants to sell data.
Your “suspicion” is based on…?
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He keeps saying some sketchy MAGA shit
Keeps saying? Any source or link? Are you aware of anything else besides that tweet?
keeps taking every opportunity he can to advocate for moving out of Switzerland,
He is not advocating to move out. He is clearly saying that he would be forced to IF the law passes because the whole reasons to advocate for being in Switzerland would be no more. Which brings us to the next point…
instead of working to keep Switzerland’s laws privacy-focused
How can you not see his statements as a way (The Way for him) to apply pressure on the government, which is exactly what he should be doing to “keep Switzerland’s laws privacy-focused”?
How else would you imagine he would “work” to keep laws privacy-focused? He is not in parliament, so bringing media attention and threatening to move a relatively big company seems the best way to me. What would be your idea?
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So, to be clear the “MAGA” stuff is all in the context of that tweet. I put it in quotes because it was not MAGA, but that’s another topic.
If he wanted to move out of Switzerland, why is he not doing that? It seems quite clear to me that he provides clear and obvious motivations why he would move away from Switzerland if this or that law passes. If the swiss law doesn’t protect privacy anymore, I expect them to move, if anything.
maybe he thinks that setting up educational programs about privacy and security so the Swiss push their politicians towards it are a waste of time
Have you seen to whom they donate the money for their annual charity fundraiser?
Anyway, educating the population is a decennial investment. How does it help when the Parliament discusses a law today?
or any number of alternatives instead of just uprooting and moving
Like what? And most importantly, why? Switzerland is often chosen by privacy companies because it has privacy-friendly laws. If these laws go away or change, why would I care for them to remain in Switzerland?
But given the track record of enshittificiation
Their is no such track record. Enshittifying is a term invented to describe companies degrading the services for their users in pursuit of bigger profits.
“if this happens, we would move to XYZ”
This means having made an enormous amount of due diligence which is realistic only if you actually want to move there.
I no longer trust rich CEOs supporting MAGA when they say “trust us with your data!”
Good call. But proton organizational structure is completely different, and so are their business model and target clientele, compared to other tech companies. I trust business interests more than anything else, because this is why companies do what they do.
P.s. His opinion is rightfully shared by other companies in the privacy space. I legitimately can’t find one single wrong thing in his position on this matter.
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