For context, in my password manager I had tried formatting some of my entrees so that it would contain the usual username and password, but instead of creating whole new entrees for the security questions for the same account, I just added additional fields in the same entree in order to keep things a little more tidy.
I was not expecting that doing so would result in later being shaken down by Proton to pay even more money just to access the same few bytes of fucking text I had trusted them with. This is sleazy as fuck and I am dropping these idiots entirely.
I tried protonmail not for the privacy purpose but just to have a normal web email client.
After wasting an hour before finding out you can’t disable the “sent from protonmail” footer without manually deleting it in each draft you make, I said screw it and deployed my own email server with stalwart lol.
It’s receive only because outgoing SMTP is a pain to make reliable these days and my ISP blocks outgoing SMTP anyway, but for everything else I now use Thunderbird.
What do you mean? It’s a slider setting you can turn on or off individually for each address (if you want to keep it one one but not others). It’s under identity and addresses.
IIRC free users don’t have that option.
Ah, that makes sense. Always blows my mind when people complain about free tier limitations, especially from companies that don’t make money from selling your data.
shaken down by Proton to pay even more money
What are you paying for currently?
I had to look into it, because their pricing plans seem to have changed now. Evidently I have something called Proton Plus, $4.99 per month. It looks like that plans benefits do not extend to additional Proton Pass features.
I’m going to be transferring accounts away from Proton and then closing my accounts entirely. Already moved all my passwords back to Keepass. My main email address has been on posteo(.de), which has been great. Super reliable service from a company who appears to actually get the ethos of FOSS. I only pay, I think $12 per year for their service.
Yeah I thought so. If ya don’t pay for it, ya don’t get to complain about it, bud.
I’m sorry, but what? Number one, we’re talking about text. Bytes of data, which costs next to nothing to store. If you think that it is in any way fair for a company to allow a person to enter information into an account, and then unexpectedly charge them to access that same data, you are insane. If you paid for a storage rental, moved your belongings into it, and then found that the company changed the lock and decided you had to pay more to get your stuff - would you continue renting that storage?
Go back to reddit, corposhill.
we’re talking about text. Bytes of data, which costs next to nothing to store.
No but your files are not stored as text files. That’s not what you’re paying for. You’re paying for the development of the software used to create, store and fill them at the appropriate times and places. If you don’t care about that, just keep them stored as text files on your computer. Boom, problem solved.
If you paid for a storage rental, moved your belongings into it, and then found that the company changed the lock and decided you had to pay more to get your stuff
You keep using that phrase. You are not “paying more” because you never paid anything in the first place.
Go back to reddit, corposhill.
If you think Reddit is the only place that’s going to call you out for being a choosy beggar, you’re in for a surprise.
No but your files are not stored as text files. That’s not what you’re paying for. You’re paying for the development of the software used to create, store and fill them at the appropriate times and places. If you don’t care about that, just keep them stored as text files on your computer. Boom, problem solved.
But you say just below this that I never paid for anything in the first place? In any case, whether paid or not, they still have to compete with other options including free ones like Keepass. Why would I pay for Proton over the free Keepass if Proton is basically ransomware?
You keep using that phrase. You are not “paying more” because you never paid anything in the first place.
Untrue. I was paying for it, and they required that I pay even more just to access the data that their system allowed me to enter.
If you think Reddit is the only place that’s going to call you out for being a choosy beggar, you’re in for a surprise.
You rn:

Download BitWarden and be done with it.
Keepass is tried and true, I’m going back to Keepass.
If you can, just self-host vault warden (compatible with bit warden and supported). Gets your data out of the cloud entirely.
I’m with you, but the hosted subscription is miles more secure than I can make my installation, and at $10 per year probably cheaper than the electricity to self host. Plus it supports the devs.
But I do make regular backups in case I need to migrate.
I think their prices have increased, but it’s still a good deal
Giving money to yanks though
KeepassXC and syncthing, free and easy
Why are you suggesting self hosting vaultwarden instead of self hosting bitwarden?
It’s much lighter on the resources while having the exact same functionality.
Pretty sure the warning signs were apparent when the CEO submitted to Trump. it just his “personal beliefs” and not representative of the company. Right.
Yeah, I tried to be charitable and assume they were just ignorant of how bad Trump is. I should have known better.
The CEO was lobbying for online privacy by publicly shaming the Democrats. He was doing his job.
Why is it that just doing their job excuse or just following orders tends to be associated with questionable actions as opposed to positive ones? It’s starting to seem like a red flag if those two phrases get used for an action.
He made a mean tweet about the Democrats, it’s not like he loaded bullets into ICE guns.
Complimentary remarks to Republicans depicting them as a party open to being privacy respecting and respect for the rule of law. Took the Joe Rogan hand book of trying to sane wash the Republicans and downplay concerns regarding them while trying to come off as moderate.
And it aged terribly. Someone who went to Harvard and spent significant time in the US wasn’t blind to what those way less educated than him saw when it came to the direction the US was headed towards before Trump officially took office.
He was rightfully criticized because Trump never hid his intentions during the election, so people were not impressed by the pandering like all the current tech bros part of the Trump inner circle.
Am I the only one that read the situation as he could only get GOP folks to be receptive that day? Like if it would have been dems it would have been the other way around. My wife went to DC to lobby for an issue and tried both parties. It’s a thing they do. He never specifically said he actually preferred one over the other, just that he got the response. I’m more interested in what the specific lobbying effort was. I am suspicious of them only because they are lobbying in US in the first place and because I’m suspicious of everything at this point. There was no damning info in the reporting on this issue.
proton is owned by a fascist. avoid shit owned by fascists if you can.
Yeah, I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt (because sunk cost fallacy), but this is only one of a number of issues I’ve had with them and I need to be more quick to acknowledge grift when I know I see it.
For the password and passkeys manager I went with a selfhosted solution: AliasVault on an VPS and it’s really great! If you have a domain name you can have unlimited aliases with it’s built in email server (with a subdomain and for receiving email only so you don’t have to worry about being blacklisted)
The installation script is making everything for you, even fetching the TLS certificate from “let’s encrypt”
There’s Android and iOs support as well as add-ons for most browsers
I’m going to go with Keepass and Syncthing.
??? I use Proton mail and I never saw something like this. Account with nick, other mail, password and go.
It’s in Proton Pass. When you create an account entree, there is an option to create additional fields that you can name and fill out, kind of like multiple notes in one file. Somehow I was able to create those fields on my account just fine, but then to be given access to that data it turned out that I had to upgrade my account. In other words they duped me into entering data at no extra cost, but then charged me to access that same data later on.
That’s scummy as fuck.
I guarantee they do that on purpose just like all other scams that make you invest your time before telling you you need to pay.
I don’t use it. Mail is fine, I don’t need other than this. For all other apps, there are tons of FOSS alternatives out there.
Use keepassXC instead. You don’t need any kind of cloud for a password manager. Keepass database can by synchronized between devices with syncthing. Safer and free forever
Not sure what this has to do with privacy.
Extra features require a subscription, big fucking surprise.
You can self-host, but that could be an actual privacy nightmare.
I don’t think that’s where entrees go.
Hypothetically it should have. Those were additional fields that I added to the main account login entree, in order to keep all the relevant data in one place.
Strange, I keep my entrees covered in the fridge and take them out about one hour before guests show up.
Try 2FAS (Auth and Pass): https://2fas.com/ This is a great service!
KeepassXC + Syncthing has worked fine for me for a few years. Sure, it’s a bit of a hassle and not exactly perfect, but nothing is. I have control over my data and I don’t have to pay anyone anything, that’s enough for me.
Also, tasty entrees 🤤
Howdy. For the clarity of users such as myself, can you please clarify which “Proton” you’re referring to.
Bummer.
Eh. I am very happy with thwir service, but I didn’t opt for the free tier. It has replaced my old VPN service provider, 1Password, google’s 2FA, Google Drive, and the office suite is useful.
Since i was paying for other services that offered no privacy, switching to a single paid service with privacy ended up saving me money, so no complaints.
OMG I thought I was the only child of Mr and Mrs Upgrade, of Upgrade street, Upgrade! Maybe we’re related?
But I don’t understand, were you already a premium member when you were prompted to pay more?
I had to look into it again because their pricing models are weird and confusing. My current plan is something called Proton Plus, $4.99 per month, and evidently the benefits do not extend to Pass.
Oh yeah, this is a very annoying pricing model. Proportionally very expensive for each individual part/product, but then a proportionally lower price for the whole thing. But in absolute amounts, more money was payed.
The closest example I can think of is fast food cup sizes.
What they want is for you to think “Hmm I need a VPN and an email, but it’s cheaper to just buy the whole unlimited package”













