Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
ProtonMail suggests fear of the Donald prompting lockdown
"ProtonMail follows the Swiss policy of neutrality. We do not take any position for or against Trump," the Swiss company's CEO stated on Monday, before revealing that new user sign-ups immediately doubled following Trump's election victory.
ProtonMail has published figures showing that as soon as the election results rolled in, the public began to seek out privacy-focused services such as its own.
CEO Andy Yen said that, in communicating with these new users, the company found people apprehensive about the decisions that President Trump might take and what they would mean considering the surveillance activities of the National Security Agency.
"Given Trump's campaign rhetoric against journalists, political enemies, immigrants, and Muslims, there is concern that Trump could use the new tools at his disposal to target certain groups," Yen said. "As the NSA currently operates completely out of the public eye with very little legal oversight, all of this could be done in secret."
ProtonMail was launched back in May 2014 by scientists who had met at CERN and MIT. In response to the Snowden revelations regarding collusion between the NSA and other email providers such as Google, they created a government-resistant, end-to-end encrypted email service.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/14/protonmail_subs_double_after_trump_victory/
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:43AM
Obama is going to impose sharia law!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Zz9zZ on Tuesday November 15 2016, @05:03AM
That is a good parody of how the anti-Trumpers are reacting. Obama is not muslim, and Trump is not going to magically disappear/deport all muslims/mexicans/minorities. The world won't end, but it will get a bit crazy. I can't argue against people prepping for digital persecution though, other countries didn't see their madmen coming...
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @05:36AM
I listened to that crap NON stop for 8 years from my fellow republicans (including trump). It was stupid then and still is. I thought about expanding on it. But left it pretty much how I heard it.
Most people do not realize the president is by design to be limited in power. The congress and senate are the ones with the real power (again by design).
When his first scandal shows up, AND it will. Then they may have some standing to criticize him. Right now it is sour grapes. Obama gets to stand on his own merits just as Trump will. Both good and bad.
You can not argue well against it either. It is straight up irrational fear. All you can do is keep pointing out 'look not as bad as you thought'. They will still fill in their confirmation bias to make sure he is a bad guy no matter what he does. They will be looking for reasons to re-label him the things they have already pre-labeled him to fill in the narrative they have in their brains. For anything else makes them wrong. Most people do not react well to being *that* wrong.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 15 2016, @12:35PM
I like it when people convincingly point out that I'm wrong. It means I can correct my shat and be right in the future. And few things are more entertaining than being right at people on the Internet.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @10:17PM
Please write a personal tracker for internet arguments with TMB so we can all analyze this joy you get from being corrected and right the next time.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 15 2016, @10:44PM
I'll let you know as soon as someone manages it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:46PM
But people actually were saying that if Obama won, he'd take away your guns and bibles. People actually believed that nonsense.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @09:09PM
Hitler did not magically disappear/deport all jews/homosexuals/gypsies/etc, he had the help of the people.
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday November 16 2016, @03:11AM
Actually he had the help of most of the world. Hitler just wanted them out of his country, and the first thing he did was try to deport them. There were ships of Jews sailing around the world looking for a friendly port. No one wanted them. He's second idea was to ship them all to Madagascar, which was not practical. After considering how most of the rest of the world considered Jews, he decided on a final solution.
Note that the second largest group that he tried to exterminate, the Romani, are still prosecuted in many countries.
Note also that Hitler shook Jesse Owens hand, something that the President of the USA refused to do. Those were openly racist times and much of the racism is still there under the surface.
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Wednesday November 16 2016, @06:21PM
Yeah, if grandparents can remember a time of full-bore racism then that shit trickles down to the kids/grandkids. If we can keep things moving towards equality it will probably be another 50-100 years for racism to really die out. Any anthropologists / psychologists have a more hopeful projection?
~Tilting at windmills~