ON THO’S MOTIVATIONS
You could also make the case that Proton refused to do an interview with THO after he respectfully declined their sponsorship offer. I personally believe that even if Proton had granted him that interview, THO would have made this video. THO has never been afraid to voice shortcomings in privacy services, whether they are made by privacy companies or Big Tech (Apple).
Other trustworthy privacy voices like PG, Tech Lore, Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons, etc… have also done it, but they are much softer in their communication style, and hence their criticisms may not be received the same way or be explicit enough for people to catch them.
ON THO’S CRITICISMS OF PROTON
Indeed. There are shortcomings about Proton that most users are not aware of, like the fact that Proton Pass and Simple Login only allow one alias per third party website (2,3,4) and that they are completely separate services. Imagine you have Proton Unlimited, and your entire Proton account gets locked, that means losing access to your emails (Proton Mail), your files (Proton Drive), and all your logins (Proton Pass), all because you created 2 aliases for Instagram.
ON THO’S VALUE TO THE PRIVACY COMMUNITY
I respectfully disagree. I have learned a great deal from THO over the years and find his videos extremely informative. He was the main person who burst my bubble about Apple being private. And what I appreciate about his videos is that he always provides sources for all of his claims. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t make mistakes or that I always agree with him, but overall, it’s unquestionable to me that his voice is a force for good.
APPLE & GOOGLE’S DUOPOLY: THE DANGERS OF ECOSYSTEMS
One could argue that it’s difficult to leave most ecosystems once you’re all in. But yes, I 100% agree with you. I personally find it unacceptable that we can’t easily back up any of our devices outside of iCloud and Google Drive. We should be able to back them up to any cloud services, and single apps should allow that as a way to fight back. For example, if I download an e-book reader, I should be allowed to sync and back up my app data to other cloud services.
ON SIMPLE LOGIN & INTERNAL MIGRATION
Are you 100% sure about that? Have you tested it?
Because I know for a fact that it’s not possible to migrate aliases from one Proton Pass account to another. They have to be done one by one, which takes forever if you have hundreds. Moreover, none of the metadata associated with your aliases are transferred in the migration (e.g. the vaults they belong to). It might be different with SimpleLogin, which is why I am asking if you’re sure, because unbeknownst to most, SL and Proton Pass are separate services.
ON THO’S CHARACTER & CRITICISM OF SPONSORSHIPS
I don’t think the title is misleading. The video is about ecosystems but focuses on Proton. I disagree with THO’s position that ecosystems are inherently bad. At least not in theory. The problem is deliberately locking your users, and yes, even if you don’t lock them, there are vulnerabilities.
Did THO come after PG?
If it’s about accepting sponsors, I can understand the annoyance. I certainly don’t question the value of PG’s work, and I agree that the fact that organizations like Tor and the EFF are willing to work with you speaks volumes. But that doesn’t mean that sponsorships as a financial model are not criticizable.
What sponsorships and lack there of says about creators
There are huge content creators I absolutely dislike and have no respect for who take zero sponsorships. They platform bigots and spread all kinds of disinformation and misinformation. And yet they refuse to take any sponsors because it goes against their values.
Not having sponsors can earn you trust, but obviously on its own, it’s not enough to earn a good reputation. There are also lots of content creators I generally trust who are sponsored. I find their voices extremely valuable, but I also recognize that they could have blind spots when it comes to their sponsors or the industry their sponsors are in.
Sponsorships as a model is worth critiquing
I think it’s unfair to put all YouTubers in the same bag. When I first started hearing critiques about the sponsorship model, it was specifically in journalism, as lots of independent journalists and media outlets are on YouTube and have podcasts.
The criticism I saw came from other journalists, and I think it was warranted. It also makes sense that this criticism would extend to all content creators in general, especially in light of the various controversies there have been with sponsors.
That doesn’t mean that content creators who have sponsors are inherently bad, just that they may have conflicts of interest. And as I’ve stated earlier, creators who don’t take sponsors are not inherently good. Some are, in fact, very bad. A single good decision checks one box, but does not automatically earn my trust.
EVERYBODY HAS THE RIGHT TO CRITICIZE A PRODUCT THEY USE
Most of the people criticizing Proton are paying users, including myself. And free users also have every right to criticize a product that they use. Maybe not to the same extent, but they have that right. I don’t pay for YouTube. That doesn’t mean I can’t criticize some of their decisions. Especially if it affects me.
I agree. Unless I was rich, and even if I wasn’t, I would want to get as much value for my money as I can if I paid that much.