Switzerland is considering a bogus move away from its progressive history of digital rights, and the most notable Swiss VPN provider, Proton, says that if a controversial law passes, they’ll leave the country.
As I wrote in a story covering the early consultation phase of the law back in March, “Switzerland is mulling changes to its notoriously privacy-oriented digital security laws that would force Switzerland-based tech firms—including many VPNs—to cooperate with sharing customer data with authorities if requested, erasing much of the privacy benefit of using a VPN.”
how it is versus how it may be
“Under Swiss law, we are not obligated to save any user connection logs, nor can we be forced to perform targeted logging on specific users,” writes Proton VPN on an explainer webpage. “This means that your private browsing history stays private and cannot be turned over to a third-party.”
It’s exactly what I like to hear when appraising a VPN. At least, that’s how Swiss law is currently written and how Proton VPN has been operating since it was founded in 2017.
“This revision attempts to implement something that has been deemed illegal in the EU and the United States. The only country in Europe with a roughly equivalent law is Russia,” said Andy Yen, founder and CEO of Proton, in an interview with Radio Télévision Suisse. The original French has been translated into English.
There are plenty of reasons why I named Proton VPN as the best free VPN in my Guide to the Best VPNs. Not that the paid version is any slouch. When I tested and reviewed that, too, I deemed it worthy of your dollars.
Not only that, but Proton Pass is a dependable, trustworthy password manager. What’s a password manager, you say? An app that helps you generate and keep track of highly secure, unique passwords for all your digital accounts. You should be using one.
I’ve tested out Proton Pass, and it’s a top-notch performer, right up there alongside Dashlane and LastPass. And I’ve also tested Proton Mail, a secure email service that makes Gmail look like a sieve. Proton, though relatively young at eight years old, is a powerhouse in the privacy app field. It feeling that there’s no choice but to move out of the country would be Switzerland’s loss.
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