6 ms·
And still no way to anonymously create an account (free or paid): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28435153 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28435153 M
by flotzam 4y ago
And still no way to anonymously create an account (free or paid): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28435153 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28435153
Make of that what you will, after so many years and the nth redesign
- wangler1949 4y agoit is. i just created an account on there onion site using only captcha
- Forbo 4y agoNo phone number, secondary email, or credit card info was required?
- wangler1949 4y ago"only using captcha" so no
- Forbo 4y agoI just tried to register an account using the onion site. It requires JavaScript, as well as either an email or phone number for SMS. I saw no captcha when attempting to create the account. Edit: https://protonmailrmez3lotccipshtkleegetolb73fuirgj7r4o4vfu7ozyd.onion/support/human-verification https://protonmailrmez3lotccipshtkleegetolb73fuirgj7r4o4vfu7... "If you are only given the option of email or SMS verification and would like to avoid using email or SMS verification, it is possible to do so by upgrading to a paid plan using PayPal or Bitcoin." Yeah, I would hardly call any of those options anonymous. Pseudonymous at best.
- flotzam 4y agoWhich .onion? The signup link on https://protonmailrmez3lotccipshtkleegetolb73fuirgj7r4o4vfu7ozyd.onion https://protonmailrmez3lotccipshtkleegetolb73fuirgj7r4o4vfu7... redirects to their clearnet site. Maybe it redirected you too and you landed on that one mythical Tor exit node not yet blocked by Proton, which is always rumored to exist (but I've never seen it)
- bartbutler 4y agoAs of a month or two ago, it does not redirect to the cleartext site and stays on .onion.
- flotzam 4y agoRight now it's staying on .onion again (and blocking anon signups), but at the time of wangler1949's comment it redirected to proton.me when I checked.
- selykg 4y agoPrivacy != Anonymity. I can see why they do what they do, it probably prevents a lot of spam accounts and abusive use type accounts from being created. But privacy doesn't mean anonymous. If you want anonymous I don't think Proton is for you.
- xur17 4y agoI guess I don't know what sort of abuse they experience, but for spam I'd think $10 / month would be more than sufficient.
- selykg 4y agoWhat if that $10/mo is going to result in a charge back from the stolen credit card? That, on top of spam and whatever other abuse is going on with that account.
- xur17 4y agoOK, then only accept crypto for anonymous accounts.
- flotzam 4y agoAnd it would be easy for Proton, because they already accept cryptocurrency for subsequent payments after account creation, but not for the first payment during account creation (catch 22) In the end it's their choice to continue collecting personal data, even after Swiss authorities compelled them to disclose personal data to French authorities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProtonMail#Compliance_with_Swiss_court_orders_and_IP_Logging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProtonMail#Compliance_with_Swi...
- selykg 4y agoHonestly, cryptocurrencies (I hate that these have hijacked "crypto" for their silly garbage, to me crypto will always be cryptography. Old man yells at cloud I guess..) just invite abuse. As a service provider I'd never offer cryptocurrency as payment if that service could be abused in one way or another. Just my experience, to each their own.
- OminousWeapons 4y agoJust buy a burner and use that for your phone number during setup.
- tingle 4y agoBetween 2019 and 2020, I've created a few free one-time ProtonMail accounts, which I used for creating throw-away Apple IDs. In fact, I just created one to verify. It's still possible. See for yourself: user: testaccount.forhackernews@protonmail.com pass: testdonotuseforseriousstuff All I had to do was to solve a captcha with bicycles in order to prove I was human. And the dialog for recovery e-mail / phone had a "Maybe later" button. I live in Switzerland, maybe the impossibility of anonymous account creation is a legal issue in some countries ?
- _8j50 4y agoI have used a burner phone and anonymously obtained btc wallet with them.
- stjohnswarts 4y agobtc isn't really anonymous, although it's -easily- traced it can be with a bit of resources.
- _8j50 4y agoThat's why i said obtained not transacted