Cloud Service Infomaniak gets fight with proton on controversial Swiss security legislation
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- Infomaniak hit Proton’s attitude against one Controversial revision of the Swiss Security Act
- The change would require VPNs and Messages apps to identify and store user data
- Proton and NYMVPN are ready to leave Switzerland instead of undermining their privacy and safety
Update: On June 6, 2025, after publication, Infomaniak confirmed to TechRadar that the company actually resists the revision in its current form, even though it is online against the total anonymity. We edit the article to display this.
A Swiss cloud service, Infomaniak, has publicly hit the privacy agency for promoting online anonymity, which criticizes the company’s position against a controversial revision of the country’s surveillance legislation.
The change would require all VPN services, Messages apps and social networks to identify and store user data -an obligation that is now limited to mobile networks and internet providers.
So far, technical providers have been pronounced to share their concern against this revision, they say, a Risk to secure coding and online anonymity in Switzerland. The Regulation was also reportedly received against a strong recoil on political banks.
The CEO of Proton, one of the Best VPN And Safe e -mail Providers on the market, compared these new rules even with those who are present in Russia To leave Switzerland When the new regulation passes. Another Swiss-based provider, NymvpnAlso confirmed to TechRadar that it is ready to do the same.
What did Infomaniak say?
Infomaniak is a cloud computing company that claims to offer ethical and privacy-oriented online tools, such as web hosting, cloud storageAnd now encrypted e -mail services.
During a debate on Radiotelesuisse (RTS), communication manager of Infomaniak, Thomas Jacobsen, it was particularly critical of the position of Proton, accusing proton and similar technical privacy companies that argue for online anonymity to prevent justice from doing work “, as” as ” Reported by Swiss publication Cublic.
Jacobsen also criticized Proton for offering Free VPN And e -mail services, with the argument that this enables everyone to stay out of the reach of law enforcement. According to him, the criticism that comes from proton and similar companies is because the new rules may end their business model.
New data retention obligations can in fact lead to the end of No-log VPN and other services in Switzerland, such as Proton VPN” Proton post” NymvpnAnd Theme.
In Switzerland, the new version of the Surveillance Law wants to make it impossible for Proton, Threema and@NIM project to operate from Switzerland. We are in the consultation phase. We will fight. https://t.co/bcmbxzipfcMarch 25, 2025
Jacobsen also pointed out that “the problem is not so much coding, but anonymity.”
In contrast to similar legislative efforts in Europe that are the idea of a Legal coding back door In the communication of citizens, Switzerland has in fact chosen a different approach and focuses on metadata tracking instead.
Metadata contains all the details that are not the content, such as IP addresses, location data, time stamps, data package size, telephone numbers, with whom you have spoken and when. Like Jacobsen it during Another interview with RTS“The outside of the package is sufficient to bring justice.”
However, technologists have long argued that metadata can form significant privacy problems because of the ability to reveal the sensitive information of users. With progress in AI-driven data analyzes, protection Metadata -Privacy has become crucial throughout the industry, which leads to creating tools such as NYMVPN and Mullvad’s Daita To protect against these threats.
When he is approached by Techradar, Jacobsen said that Infomaniak actually opposes the Swiss revision in its current form, even though it is online against the total anonymity.
He said: “We are also against this revision as it looks now. We believe that it should be better regulated, declared better and, above all, transparent debated to prevent a shift to widespread supervision under the guise of security. In particular, requests for data access must always go through a judge.”
In comments on issues related to collecting metadata, Jacobsen agrees that in some cases Metadata can make it possible to reconstruct behavioral or communication patterns. “That is why we insist on a strictly legal framework, with mandatory judicial supervision and on measures that are directed, limited, transparent and traceable,” he added.
How did the Swiss privacy industry react?
Nym’s co-founder and COO, Alexis Roussel, was one of the online commentators Challenge the recording of the company About the issue, especially metadata collection.
In conversation with Techradar, Roussel said: “They claim that the definition of privacy encrypts the message and the metadata is not important, but that is outdated. They have the entire community here.”
Roussel also disputed the idea of getting rid of online anonymity to facilitate the work of law enforcement, with the argument that the enforcement of preventive supervision could undermine democratic values in Switzerland.
He said: “Online anonymity is the core of power relations in a democracy. When the government has access to all your metadata, it is completely reversed.”
Under the current system, Roussel explains, the government must do a specific study to force online services to record all their data. However, if the new regulation runs, this data collection will be mandatory and preventive for possible illegal activities.
“An obligation to store the data in case, perhaps, one day a judge will ask for it – that’s not ok,” said Roussel. “It is a war against anonymity that takes place in Switzerland at the federal level.”
As the public consultation ended on May 6, 2025, we will now have to wait and see what the Swiss government decides.
Nevertheless, Roussel confirmed to Techradar that there has been a considerable push-back from both political parties and Swiss companies.
Some cantons, Including Genevahave even called the right to digital integrity as an argument against these rules. Roussel was the most important founder of the initiative Introduced this new right To protect the online privacy and data from citizens – in 2023 in Geneva and Neuchâtel in 2024 – with more than 90% consensus.
“The chances that the Regulation is being destroyed in parliament or even in the stands are quite high, but they can still insist on it,” Roussel told Techradar.
Nevertheless, “that is already a big problem because it creates a bad precedent. Nobody is now going to invest in privacy in Switzerland,” he added.
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