The journey of tech empowerment and liberation from tech bros can be a long, bumpy road.
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The journey of tech empowerment and liberation from tech bros can be a long, bumpy road.
The biggest tech regret of my adult life is that I didn't use a custom domain name as my main email address, so that when things invariably go south, I can simply hop to a new email provider.
The hundred or so email aliases I made with #Proton are a real headache right now. Time to clean up my mess.
What am I talking about? This ICYMI: https://www.404media.co/manifestos-fear-and-loser-thinking-inside-protons-ai-reckoning/
I'm devastated to hear that #Proton 's CEO and CTO are treating their engineers in a terrible way, blindly trusting LLMs and creating a toxic culture where speed and growth trump security.
I'm not ready to make a radical switch yet but some little actions I implemented today could be useful for others, too:
1) I made my custom domain the DEFAULT email address in ProtonMail
2) I created aliases w my custom domain for shopping, newsletters, admin, etc.Hoping this will make a transition smoother
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I'm devastated to hear that #Proton 's CEO and CTO are treating their engineers in a terrible way, blindly trusting LLMs and creating a toxic culture where speed and growth trump security.
I'm not ready to make a radical switch yet but some little actions I implemented today could be useful for others, too:
1) I made my custom domain the DEFAULT email address in ProtonMail
2) I created aliases w my custom domain for shopping, newsletters, admin, etc.Hoping this will make a transition smoother
My new approach vis-à-vis transitioning away from #Proton (in a slow way) - cont':
For every new email that comes in that uses one of my Proton email addresses (or aliases), I am making changes, updating the email address for that account (if it's shopping/newsletter/admin) or I am notifying the sender that going forward my default email address will be the one associated to my domain name.
It's a pain, but it's long overdue.
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The journey of tech empowerment and liberation from tech bros can be a long, bumpy road.
The biggest tech regret of my adult life is that I didn't use a custom domain name as my main email address, so that when things invariably go south, I can simply hop to a new email provider.
The hundred or so email aliases I made with #Proton are a real headache right now. Time to clean up my mess.
What am I talking about? This ICYMI: https://www.404media.co/manifestos-fear-and-loser-thinking-inside-protons-ai-reckoning/
@_elena
HO.LY. F.U.C.K.Thanks for posting that link. I had absolutely no idea! I've been with #Proton for many years, 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 because I want to get away from Big Tech, not to get dragged back in via the backdoor.
What a arrogant, dismissive prick, this guy. I feel sorry for the employees, but I'm gonna have to look for an alternative. It really sucks, as Proton Meet and SimpleLogin are really good products. What a nightmare!

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I'm devastated to hear that #Proton 's CEO and CTO are treating their engineers in a terrible way, blindly trusting LLMs and creating a toxic culture where speed and growth trump security.
I'm not ready to make a radical switch yet but some little actions I implemented today could be useful for others, too:
1) I made my custom domain the DEFAULT email address in ProtonMail
2) I created aliases w my custom domain for shopping, newsletters, admin, etc.Hoping this will make a transition smoother
i felt split between proton and tuta. I guess i made the right choice to go with tuta (for now at least)
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@_elena
HO.LY. F.U.C.K.Thanks for posting that link. I had absolutely no idea! I've been with #Proton for many years, 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 because I want to get away from Big Tech, not to get dragged back in via the backdoor.
What a arrogant, dismissive prick, this guy. I feel sorry for the employees, but I'm gonna have to look for an alternative. It really sucks, as Proton Meet and SimpleLogin are really good products. What a nightmare!

@aerion it's a real nightmare, indeed. I moved to Proton 6 years ago in an effort to DeGooglify. This development has been really upsetting.
Honestly if they get rid of their CEO and the CTO I may stick around... it seems that engineers have their heart in the right place, putting an emphasis on hand-written code and caution.
Otherwise my paid plan lasts for another 6 months and I will slowly transition away from it.
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My new approach vis-à-vis transitioning away from #Proton (in a slow way) - cont':
For every new email that comes in that uses one of my Proton email addresses (or aliases), I am making changes, updating the email address for that account (if it's shopping/newsletter/admin) or I am notifying the sender that going forward my default email address will be the one associated to my domain name.
It's a pain, but it's long overdue.
@_elena As a protocol, Email is painfully outdated. It shouldn't be so hard to switch service provider, or to protect ourselves from spams and leaked addresses... Sure we can buy a custom domain and set aliases, but that's beyond the average user 🥲
On that note, members of my family were proudly moving from Google to Proton

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I'm devastated to hear that #Proton 's CEO and CTO are treating their engineers in a terrible way, blindly trusting LLMs and creating a toxic culture where speed and growth trump security.
I'm not ready to make a radical switch yet but some little actions I implemented today could be useful for others, too:
1) I made my custom domain the DEFAULT email address in ProtonMail
2) I created aliases w my custom domain for shopping, newsletters, admin, etc.Hoping this will make a transition smoother
@_elena
Proton's CEO also make promotion for extreme right wing.
https://next.ink/241625/proton-dans-la-tourmente-apres-avoir-finance-une-publicite-chez-un-videaste-dextreme-droite/If you search an email provider with custom domain, I have my own server since 16 years now.

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I'm devastated to hear that #Proton 's CEO and CTO are treating their engineers in a terrible way, blindly trusting LLMs and creating a toxic culture where speed and growth trump security.
I'm not ready to make a radical switch yet but some little actions I implemented today could be useful for others, too:
1) I made my custom domain the DEFAULT email address in ProtonMail
2) I created aliases w my custom domain for shopping, newsletters, admin, etc.Hoping this will make a transition smoother
@_elena That's in line with a good principle of IT service management: "only 'trust' partners if you can escape from them". That sounds so much better than the equivalent, "don't trust anyone!".
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My new approach vis-à-vis transitioning away from #Proton (in a slow way) - cont':
For every new email that comes in that uses one of my Proton email addresses (or aliases), I am making changes, updating the email address for that account (if it's shopping/newsletter/admin) or I am notifying the sender that going forward my default email address will be the one associated to my domain name.
It's a pain, but it's long overdue.
@_elena do you have any links that could work as a gateway to figuring out how to acquire and set up a custom email domain? I've been using the same Gmail address for 20 years and it's the major thing I haven't degoogled yet. I don't want to have to change it more than once, and by the looks of things I won't ever be able to trust any email provider.
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The journey of tech empowerment and liberation from tech bros can be a long, bumpy road.
The biggest tech regret of my adult life is that I didn't use a custom domain name as my main email address, so that when things invariably go south, I can simply hop to a new email provider.
The hundred or so email aliases I made with #Proton are a real headache right now. Time to clean up my mess.
What am I talking about? This ICYMI: https://www.404media.co/manifestos-fear-and-loser-thinking-inside-protons-ai-reckoning/
@_elena Wow, what a loser Proton's CEO is.
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My new approach vis-à-vis transitioning away from #Proton (in a slow way) - cont':
For every new email that comes in that uses one of my Proton email addresses (or aliases), I am making changes, updating the email address for that account (if it's shopping/newsletter/admin) or I am notifying the sender that going forward my default email address will be the one associated to my domain name.
It's a pain, but it's long overdue.
@_elena
Are you switching to self-hosted email, or an alias on one of the major providers?I have been trying to figure out my best options for awhile now.
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@_elena
Are you switching to self-hosted email, or an alias on one of the major providers?I have been trying to figure out my best options for awhile now.
@TerryHancock I'm just using my domain name as my default email address so I can freely switch providers in just a few clicks (and DNS changes). I am not self-hosting my email, I heard it's like a cartel and I don't want to worry about deliverability rates, etc. Just using my custom domain so I can hop between different providers, that's all
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@_elena do you have any links that could work as a gateway to figuring out how to acquire and set up a custom email domain? I've been using the same Gmail address for 20 years and it's the major thing I haven't degoogled yet. I don't want to have to change it more than once, and by the looks of things I won't ever be able to trust any email provider.
@LeoRJorge it's really easy. Just buy a custom domain and then add it to your email provider. There are many video tutorials about how to change DNS settings, step-by-step
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My new approach vis-à-vis transitioning away from #Proton (in a slow way) - cont':
For every new email that comes in that uses one of my Proton email addresses (or aliases), I am making changes, updating the email address for that account (if it's shopping/newsletter/admin) or I am notifying the sender that going forward my default email address will be the one associated to my domain name.
It's a pain, but it's long overdue.
@_elena «Stop thinking always of how it can be painful, and focus more on how to be faster.”»

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My new approach vis-à-vis transitioning away from #Proton (in a slow way) - cont':
For every new email that comes in that uses one of my Proton email addresses (or aliases), I am making changes, updating the email address for that account (if it's shopping/newsletter/admin) or I am notifying the sender that going forward my default email address will be the one associated to my domain name.
It's a pain, but it's long overdue.
@_elena These changes now will save you a lot of time later. This situation is such a conundrum. My immediate reaction is to leave, because I don't want to indirectly support a company with a CEO that treats its employees this way and ignores the security concerns from the very engineers that built its products. But a company is also so much more than just its CEO, and do you punish the team and abandon the arguably good tools by leaving, when it's really the CEO that needs to go?
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I'm devastated to hear that #Proton 's CEO and CTO are treating their engineers in a terrible way, blindly trusting LLMs and creating a toxic culture where speed and growth trump security.
I'm not ready to make a radical switch yet but some little actions I implemented today could be useful for others, too:
1) I made my custom domain the DEFAULT email address in ProtonMail
2) I created aliases w my custom domain for shopping, newsletters, admin, etc.Hoping this will make a transition smoother
@_elena
Thanks for this idea! I am very disappointed as I just moved over to Proton. -
My new approach vis-à-vis transitioning away from #Proton (in a slow way) - cont':
For every new email that comes in that uses one of my Proton email addresses (or aliases), I am making changes, updating the email address for that account (if it's shopping/newsletter/admin) or I am notifying the sender that going forward my default email address will be the one associated to my domain name.
It's a pain, but it's long overdue.
I've been doing the same for the past several months. I switched to a new email provider (Fastmail), and have started using my own domain name for my emails now.
I've switched most of the old Proton accounts over to my domain name now, just a few left that I'm changing over as and when they pop up.
The joy of having a catch-all, rules and servicename@customdomain.xxx is measurable. Just knowing I can kill an address at will should it start spamming is great peace of mind.
And yeah, it's sad what's happening at Proton right now. They were one of the good ones. Damn shame.
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@_elena
Are you switching to self-hosted email, or an alias on one of the major providers?I have been trying to figure out my best options for awhile now.
@TerryHancock @_elena I use @doncow on my self hosted cloud server and love it. Also host my nextcloud and website and much of my stack. Anyone interested in help with this please reach out at https//tobiaseigen.org.
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I've been doing the same for the past several months. I switched to a new email provider (Fastmail), and have started using my own domain name for my emails now.
I've switched most of the old Proton accounts over to my domain name now, just a few left that I'm changing over as and when they pop up.
The joy of having a catch-all, rules and servicename@customdomain.xxx is measurable. Just knowing I can kill an address at will should it start spamming is great peace of mind.
And yeah, it's sad what's happening at Proton right now. They were one of the good ones. Damn shame.
Also, it worries me that Yen thinks customer privacy and security can be either maintained or improved by pushing engineers/coders to rush code via AI.
Surely hand-coding (so engineers can 100% stand by it) and testing would be the prudent approach if privacy and security are the bedrocks on which you've founded your business model?
Looks like Yen has turned into yet another Tech Bro
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My new approach vis-à-vis transitioning away from #Proton (in a slow way) - cont':
For every new email that comes in that uses one of my Proton email addresses (or aliases), I am making changes, updating the email address for that account (if it's shopping/newsletter/admin) or I am notifying the sender that going forward my default email address will be the one associated to my domain name.
It's a pain, but it's long overdue.
@_elena awesome! This sounds like a solid approach. I moved from my Gmail.com email to self hosted on my own domain using mailcow last year and it took about two months before everything flowed through mailcow. It’s a project but very feasible and fully worth it!
Still have the gmail for the occasional email that still comes in and to use Google tools like Remote Desktop connection. But everything’s that matters I moved to my digitally sovereign tech stack.