Infomaniak backs mass surveillance, aims to end online anonymity in Switzerland

Summary

I just read this bombshell article on Tom’s Guide: As a French speaker, I went to verify the TV and radio interviews mentioned in Tom’s Guide and it’s truly shocking. Everyone should immediately dump Infomaniak. Here are some quotes from Infomaniak’s spokesperson, on Swiss national TV and Radio: “Today’s Internet is not yesterday’s Internet, and we still have companies offering free services that enable people to be completely anonymous, to encrypt their content and to be completely opaque when it comes to the law. This poses a problem, and it’s only right that the Swiss justice department should do its job.” “Anonymity is a no-no, because if there’s a legal problem, we can’t do the job…. We’re not talking about accessing the contents of emails, but tracking exchanges, just to be able to track people down, …it’s necessary.” “We speak about metadata, it doesn’t threaten encryption, and what the revision of the law is asking for is simply to make it impossible to create a completely anonymous identity to do unlawful activities that could not be prosecuted. Somehow, in “real life”, we would not accept this: as evidence, when we create a phone number with a SIM card, it is mandatory to provide an ID card and it’s exactly for the same reason.” Infomaniak, a company that positions itself as “ethical”, and one who built a brand based on user security and privacy, is now publicly supporting the Swiss government’s move to force VPN and email providers to log user data and collect PII. I think the quotes speak for themselves, but TLDR they are explicitly calling for: Mandatory metadata retention A blanket ban on anonymity online Making free & encrypted services subservient to the Swiss justice department This is completely disqualifying, and it’s important to spread the word, because there are posts where Infomaniak is recommended as a good option for activists and privacy sensitive people. IMO they should never be recommended because unlike other service providers talked abo...