Hacker News Reader

Comment by jron | Hacker News Reader

Last I checked, ProtonMail required SMS verification for account creation.

Edit: When using Tor

I made an account this month and can confirm this is false. The only external info they ask for is a recovery email address, which was optional.

Just tried this now. After signup, they seem to have some spam protection.

You can either receive an SMS to your phone number, or donate with your card.

Probably related to me trying to signup via Tor.

<quote>

Too many ProtonMail accounts have been created from your connection.

Thus, we are requesting additional verification to ensure you are human and not a spam bot.

Because Tor is frequently abused by spammers, this check may be triggered because of the Tor exit node you are using.

IIRC, if you've created an account from your IP address or use a VPN (which virtually guarantees that an account has been created from that VPN's exit node), they force you to go the SMS route. Apparently, there's also a requirement for Tor users.

It's unfortunate because it means there's no way that a ProtonMail account can't be tracked to some static identifier (actual IP or phone number).

So just find a public Wifi spot or the million other ways you can access the internet without your home connection.

That still provides a way to geolocate you. It's incredibly difficult to create a usable Email address that cannot be traced in any way (i.e. purely from a Tor connection without giving any personal information).

I tried signing up a few weeks ago and definitely seemed like I was being forced to either connect SMS or backup email before I could create an account. So I didn't make one. If these things are optional they do not make it clear how to bypass that step.

Seems pretty clear to me...

https://mail.protonmail.com/create/new

This is what I see now:

http://i.imgur.com/bRcPZEU.png

Last time I tried to sign up, "captcha" was not an option, leaving only privacy-invalidating options. It might be dynamic. The criteria for them not displaying "captcha" as an option is unclear.

Fair enough. The form I see has no Step 5 (:

Unrelated note - that Dropbox link exposes what I assume is your email address. Interesting...

Thanks, good to know.

ProtonMail's verification requirements are determined by a complex system of IP reputation and other factors that are analysed in realtime when the sign up page is rendered. As an e-mail service, one of the most challenging things for ProtonMail is preventing abusive accounts from damaging the service's SMTP sending IP addresses' reputation to the point where deliver-ability becomes impossible with other e-mail service providers. This is especially difficult for e-mail providers that work to deliver privacy, and potentially pseudoanonymity, to users.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com