As the UK government announces plans to rush emergency legislation through to mandate access to data and phone records, Proton, a Swiss-based firm , seems to be gathering a following and funding for its secure email service. Joining a growing number of similar services, Proton staffed by CERN and MIT scientists wants “to protect people around the world from the mass surveillance that is currently being perpetrated by governments and corporations around the world.” So anyone with anything to hide uses a service like this, so does this mean that Proton falls foul of the law? Well yes, but Switzerland is outside of UK and US legal jurisdiction, so for the moment it’s game on. It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out over the coming weeks but there is clearly a demand, legitimate or otherwise.
