I am arguably a leftist, but probably not an authoritarian. I am all for privacy. In fact, one could argue that Proton could have gone further in basic system architecture to provide that than they seem to have to.
But, the flip side of that is that the more complicated you make your tech stack, the longer it takes to getting it running, and to fix it when it inevitably breaks.
On the other hand, they seem to have recommended using a VPN to access them, if you were concerned about IP metadata being disclosed.
On the gripping hand, they were also served with a subpoena, and depending on exactly how it was formulated, it may well have been no scope to fight the subpoena in court, and as I think that "follow the law" is generally a good thing, I think that on the balance Proton may be culpable of negligence, but not actual malice here.
But, the flip side of that is that the more complicated you make your tech stack, the longer it takes to getting it running, and to fix it when it inevitably breaks.
On the other hand, they seem to have recommended using a VPN to access them, if you were concerned about IP metadata being disclosed.
On the gripping hand, they were also served with a subpoena, and depending on exactly how it was formulated, it may well have been no scope to fight the subpoena in court, and as I think that "follow the law" is generally a good thing, I think that on the balance Proton may be culpable of negligence, but not actual malice here.