2026-03-09 03:51 UTC
@AT1ST
No, it's a different situation from a technical perspective.
One is a request for data (mail) a company already has stored on its own servers, and that that company can already access at will.
The other is a request for a company to develop and provide a tool to the government, so the government may unlock devices belonging to 3rd parties, and independently access the data therein.
To build a flimsy analogy here, one case is the government coming to your house and saying "give me all the files from the safe in your office".
The other is the government going to the safe company and saying "give me a skeleton key to unlock every safe you've ever made"
Replies (1)
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@AT1ST@mstdn.ca 2026-03-09 04:12
@lackthereof The technical difference is only partially why that stance was taken. As I understand it, they didn't even give away mail, they gave away the credit card processing token (Or the information outright), so that the credit card processing company could reveal more information. That is, Proton Mail made a point that they still cannot actually retrieve mail from their servers without doing the skeleton thing, and they aren't doing that. But they did hand over information similar to a journalist not giving away their source, but instead giving away where they met their source and who knew their source, on account of a warrant.