A court record reviewed by 404 Media shows privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to the Swiss government, which handed it to the…
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A court record reviewed by 404 Media shows privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to the Swiss government, which handed it to the FBI.
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By Jolliness7501 2026-03-0611:361 reply This is feedback from Proton Mail Team I got about this matter:
"Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concern. We understand why this story is alarming, and we want to give you a clear picture of what actually happened.
First, Proton did not provide any information to the FBI. The data was obtained by the Swiss Federal Department of Justice through a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process. Proton operates exclusively under Swiss law and only responds to legally binding orders from Swiss authorities, after all Swiss legal checks have been passed. This is clearly stated in our TOS and Privacy Policy.
In this specific case, Swiss authorities determined that the legal bar was met because a law enforcement officer had been shot, and explosive devices were involved during an incident in 2024. Switzerland has one of the strictest privacy frameworks in the world, and legal assistance is only granted in cases involving serious criminal matters.
Importantly, the only information that could be disclosed was a payment identifier because the user chose to pay by credit card although Proton accepts gift cards, cryptocurrency and cash. No emails, no message content, and no communications metadata were handed over. This actually demonstrates how little data Proton holds by design, our end-to-end encryption means we cannot access email content even if ordered to.
We hope this provides some reassurance. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions.
Best Regards, The Proton Mail Team"
By john_strinlai 2026-03-0614:421 reply many people read the headline, immediately start commenting, and only afterwards maybe read the article.
a little snippet of the article can help reduce the number of people who have a knee-jerk reaction to whatever the headline says
By lucb1e 2026-03-074:22 Even if you only read the headline, you can work out the most likely story from logic. Someone else in this thread already said it: they're not gonna go to jail for you over a small subscription fee, of course they're complying with local laws and then the Swiss people handed it over to where they got the legal assistance request from. It's also not the first time Proton cooperated with a legal request from Swiss authorities, or Signal or other similar companies for that matter. The story tells itself no matter what part of it they decide to stick in the headline
By psteinweber 2026-03-0613:511 reply Which is paywalled, so thanks for posting it here.
By lucb1e 2026-03-074:19 Nothing of that email is new to me, and I didn't read the login-walled part which was like the third paragraph onward or something (I think it said it's free to read once you sign up, so not a paywall, but yeah either way)
By edub 2026-03-0616:19 I think 404 Media has an ethical obligation to provide Proton Mail’s response outside the article’s paywall. The word “Helped” in the headline is more sensational than stating that Proton “was required by Swiss law to provide...”
For readers who do not want to pay to read the article, the headline leaves incomplete context and creates a misleading impression of the story. That damages Proton’s reputation, and the missing context is only available if someone pays for the article, reaches out to Proton, or searches forums for substantive information.
By jacyro 2026-03-066:43 Not exactly the best article. Proton complied with a lawful Swiss request. Their ToS clearly state what they can provide if requests are lawful.
The Proton user had bad opsec by using a credit card to pay for the account.
Had Proton just turned data over to an out of jurisdiction LEA, then it's more of a complaint. But they followed their policy and law here.
Proton offers a Tor address for accounts requiring anonymity rather than just privacy. The crux of this is on the account user
> The records provide insight into the sort of data that Proton Mail, which prides itself both on its end-to-end encryption and that it is only governed by Swiss privacy law, can and does provide to third parties.
Didn't Proton already say that they were physically relocating their servers outside of Switzerland because the Swiss government couldn't be trusted?
Although I guess the server location didn't matter in this case since all they wanted was the billing information and the credit card info to identify the person.
> Didn't Proton already say that they were physically relocating their servers outside of Switzerland because the Swiss government couldn't be trusted?
They said they want to relocate to Germany which I would say in a polite way, is much worse in this regard.
In what sense? Germany has among the strongest judicial oversight for invasion of privacy in Europe. Due process is followed when securing search warrants that provide access to subscriber data (Germany does not have administrative subpoenas like in the US and other countries).
Former attempts at surveillance have been struck down in the Bundesverfassungsgericht, and the right to privacy has even been affirmed for foreigners (as opposed to other countries like the US that reserve that foreign nationals have zero due process rights for invasion of privacy).
Germany has strong privacy protections against businesses. But not against the state as they consider themselves above suspicion.
Is this a gut feeling, or is there a basis for this claim? My comment referenced solely due process in relation to the state.
Yes I've seen many news items about laws being introduced that were pretty invasive.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/06/24/germanys-new-surveillanc...
https://www.heise.de/news/Ausweispruefung-bei-Prepaid-SIMs-N...
https://netzpolitik.org/2016/projekt-aniski-wie-der-bnd-mit-...
By brookst 2026-03-065:00 Introduced or passed into law?
What does having to show an ID when registering a SIM card have to do with privacy of emails?
By wolvoleo 2026-03-0618:05 I'm talking about digital privacy in general. In many countries (like in Holland) this is not a requirement.
Also Germany was a big proponent of ChatControl, until they swerved at the last minute. Holland was against it every time.
By vanderZwan 2026-03-0611:28 > But not against the state as they consider themselves above suspicion.
That's a statement that I expect to infuriate just about everyone who lived in Eastern Germany, how do they get away with that argument?
By whilenot-dev 2026-03-067:051 reply Instead of posting "I googled sources and can confirm" please post your sources so everybody can confirm.
By dash2 2026-03-068:41 I do not think it is too much to ask someone to type “German court strikes down surveillance“ into Google. Here is the link though: https://www.google.com/search?q=German+court+strikes+down+su...
By RandomGerm4n 2026-03-067:551 reply Germany is an absolutely terrible choice for this. Other Email providers such as Tuta which also offer encrypted emails, were forced to install a backdoor. As soon as the police arrive, every future email sent to the account in question is copied unencrypted without the person being informed. This is much worse than passing on payment details or stored backup email addresses, as Proton Mail is required to do in Switzerland.
> Other Email providers such as Tuta which also offer encrypted emails, were forced to install a backdoor. As soon as the police arrive, every future email sent to the account in question is copied unencrypted without the person being informed.
Important caveat: Tuta was required by a court to provide police with access to a customer's _unencrypted_ emails (ie regular SMTP mail). The police had also asked for a backdoor to Tuta's E2E emails, and that request was rejected by the courts.
By RandomGerm4n 2026-03-069:50 But the idea behind Tuta and Proton is that emails are encrypted when they arrive in the inbox. The fact that emails sent between Tuta users are still safe offer little added value because distribution is far too limited. The reason people choose such a provider is that they do not want the authorities to have access to their mailbox, but this is undermined by a backdoor. Switzerland is much better off in terms of the legal situation in this area.
By coldtea 2026-03-069:09 In the sense that it's a joke that caves in to the flimsiest pressure from a certain superpower. Although pressure is a bad choice, it's more like it's a wholy owned subsidy.
> prides itself both on its end-to-end encryption
Their end-to-end encryption is pointless because the vast majority of any recipients will just leak the plaintext emails via their own account providers anyway. It only works under very specific circumstances (all parties are using it). I think their marketing overstates what their secure private email actually means.
By njarboe 2026-03-066:31 Yes. If you send an email from a protonmail account to a gmail account that email is in google's system. Same if in the other direction. Would anyone using protonmail not know this. I would guess at least 99.9% of proton users understand this.
By pjmlp 2026-03-0614:32 No goverment is to be trusted if that is the main point.
