Things like this drive me crazy, especially in light of a conversation I had yesterday, because I don’t think people realize how damaging it is to overall privacy.

I have a friend who has been all in on Google for years. Yesterday he mentioned to me that he started playing with Proton Mail and wanted to talk to me about it, as he knows I switched last year. He said he liked it but comments he’s been reading online have him skeptical about trusting them.

I went through the process I followed, and the 12 different providers I tested, before I chose Proton. We discussed the difference between privacy and anonymity and that there are avenues to do both with Proton should he want to. I also showed him the comment that the Proton CEO posted about supporting Trump’s choice for a cabinet member who has a history of preferring small businesses over large corporations with Proton's defense.

I also stopped simping for Proton and offered a number of other alternatives he could try like my second choice, Tuta, and the number of improvements they have done since I first tested them. I even suggested FastMail because it at least sets the stage to get off a more privacy-invasive vendor.

In the end, his comment was that this was all overwhelming and that it's best to stick with “the devil you know.” So now, he will remain with Google because there is too much controversy in the privacy world, and I suspect this is true for a lot of “normal” people who are just now starting to consider improving their overall privacy and security.

With every tool, someone is going to have a problem. We let perfection become the enemy of good, and this helps people feel comfortable in deciding to stay with large American tech.