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Privacy-Focused Proton Mail Aids FBI in Uncovering ‘Stop Cop City’ Protester’s True Identity
(www.gadgetreview.com)
this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
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Again, they did not "aid" nor "give" that information. They were legally obliged to do so. There was never a choice. This could've happened with literally any company, E2EE stops them from being forced to turn over the emails themselves, but basic account metadata (creation date, payment methods, contact details, potentially IP access logs) will always be available. What you can do is limit the amount of information a provider requires/saves (for which Proton is a good choice) or don't rely on a company at all and roll your own email server.
In fact, knowing that the only thing Proton was able to hand over was the credit card identifier is pretty solid proof that they in fact cannot access (and thus provide access to) your email account and its contents.
If full anonimity is the goal then stick to crypto or cash payments, because credit card always leaves a trail and not a single email provider is above the law in that regard.
This case is entirely the fault of the user's bad opsec.