Hacker News Reader

Comment by yaris | Hacker News Reader

In Sweden you can get a prepaid phone number completely for free: Comviq literally gives away SIMs and to pre-pay you can still use cash. So from this point of view PM is not lying, not one bit.

View on HN

It's a lie. Including in their home country of Switzerland. To buy a Swiss SIM card, you’ll need to provide proof of identity (such as a passport).

Either you are confusing Switzerland and Sweden (which were two quite different countries last time I checked) or I'd be very much interested in data on why you see my words about Comviq giving away SIM cards as lie. As you probably know, there are no roaming charges in EU, so if you have a swedish SIM card - you can use it (to receive SMS at least, sometimes answer calls) in any EU country. If you put some cash on it - you can even make calls. Still without providing a single bit of your PI (assuming you bought/stole a burner phone). EDIT: clarification regarding SIM usage.

Isn't a phone number personal information as well? And what about countries where it is mandatory to register your SIM card? ProtonMail can't just reply to this part by saying "Just move to a different country bro". A phone number is personal information and should be treated as such.

A phone number is PI as long as it is tied to your ID. If you managed to get a SIM that is not in any way tied to your ID - then you are fine. This is assuming that nobody tracks your calls etc... but if you use Tor to register a PM account, then you probably know all the do's and dont's of both Tor and prepaid SIMs. As for the second part - yes and no. Yes, PM cannot answer suggesting to move. No, PM is not to blame for that. As it has been pointed out (in one of other threads about PM) this serves as a (not so high) hurdle for spammers, otherwise PMs free tier will turn into spam machine overnight. And paying customers still have to disclose their identity. Also, if one values their privacy _that much_ then that person should be able to expend some effort to protect it, and not just make a couple of clicks on the webpage.

Privacy is a human right.

I support providers that believe this as well, and act in accordance.

Your model more treats privacy as something to be earned or attained through technical knowledge. No thanks. Journalists and whistleblowers need others looking out for them when no one else will.

If Protonmail doesn't solve this by the time my account is up for renewal, I will not be renewing.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com