Protonmail battles censorship

Encrypted email provider could route connections via Google.

Protonmail (https://protonmail.com), an encrypted email provider, could avoid censorship by routing connections to its servers via “third-party infrastructure and networks we do not control, some of which might belong to companies such as Google.”

Protonmail is an email service that puts heavy emphasis on protecting the privacy of its users by using client-side encryption, and it has often positioned itself as a secure and private alternative to Gmail – which means its reliance on Google’s infrastructure will certainly raise a few eyebrows. Because of its emphasis on encryption,

Protonmail has been subjected to censorship in countries such as Turkey and Russia, which has led to this rather surprising move. A new tool is being rolled out to Protonmail users on desktop and mobile, which will avoid censorship by using alternative infrastructure providers to avoid being blocked.

In a blog post (that can be read at over here http://bit.ly/lxf262protonmailblog), the team behind the service states that the feature will only be used when it believes you’re likely to be subjected to censorship, and that “it’s imperative that we remain one step ahead of those who would seek to spy on people and restrict the freedom of information. Alternative routing is an additional capability which helps us ensure users can access our services.”

While this shouldn’t affect too many users, it does mean that there is a chance some users’ information, such as their IP address, could be visible to third parties. Anyone who is uncomfortable with that can turn the feature off, it is promised.