Just found my Vivaldi update contained a little more than just bugfixes… it now has Proton VPN built in.
It’s actually part of the browser, not an extension, so I’m in two minds whether I like that… or not.
You need either a Vivaldi account or a Proton account, so it’s not completely anonymous, but it’s a start.
The free-tier of Proton VPN also appears to be bandwidth limited and your exit point is randomised, so… yeah, it’s ok…
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Regardless if you like Proton or not, having it bundled by default isn’t good. It should be opt-in.
It’s not turned ON by default. It’s just there as an option, you are opting in to use it if you want to use it.
Proton VPN built in
Seems like it’s still an extension and can be removed; but personally I’d rather not have random extensions installed with browser updates…
i do not trust proton to not share data with the us government considering how chummy the ceo is with trump and the republican party.
proton is just another big tech cryptofash broligarchy company and its shameful vivaldi is getting in bed with them
Y’all are blowing this way the fuck out of proportion.
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Proton AG is not based in the US, and they’ve already shown that they have no access to any encrypted data multiple times.
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Proton AG is privately owned by the Proton Foundation, not Andy Yen. Andy is only 1 out of 5 people on that board. He does not have full control, and has only expressed his opinion on a single person that Trump picked. That’s it. Was it distasteful? Yes. Does it mean that Andy is a trumper and hellbent on fucking over everyone else? Absolutely not.
FFS, get your facts straight.
- Proton will comply with legal demands for information
- Proton intentionally limits what data it has access to
Don’t trust any cloud service to protect you from the authorities, trust the technical limitations you can verify. Proton is pretty good for this, in fact, one of the best. But like any service that wants to continue existing, they will honor legal demands for info.
And none of that relates to the VPN which, under Swiss law, is not obligated to retain any logs whatsoever.
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You should not trust any company to stand up against court orders.
I like when companies openly show what data they do provide, all of the good vpns do.
Not really a big problem I don’t think but also:
- Why? Why not let your users decide?
- How much are they being paid for this?
- Agreed
- Well, if it’s the free tier option, then I guess not a lot…?
I’m all for revenue income to support these tools - as long as I’m not the product - I just won’t be using this option.
if it’s the free tier option, then I guess not a lot…?
The free tier option exists for a reason. It’s basically free advertising.
Definitely not a good thing. I use Proton VPN, but only because I paid for a license before I realized the CEO is a scumbag. A lot of people are moving away from Proton’s platform, so a browser choosing to bundle it in is just privacy-violating bloatware for everyone except for a subset of users who are also still using Proton, and also for some reason don’t just have the standalone app installed.
I’m curious as to why you think the CEO is a scumbag? This article does a good job of clearing up the outrage I had seen towards the CEO.
The article is a PR puff piece. What Andy said made absolutely zero sense at the time, and even more so now. “…tables have completely turned.” Sir, the table is round and covered in shit. Always has been.
Id be very curious to see numbers on how many are actually moving away.
Yeah, just read a bit more, where it’s implied that Vivaldi recommend you share your Vivaldi account recovery with Proton, which was the problem recently:
https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/privacy/proton-vpn-for-vivaldi/
Allow Vivaldi to share your account’s recovery email address with Proton (only shown during first use).
https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/27/vivaldi_proton_vpn/
Proton VPN is operated by the same company behind the encrypted email service, Proton Mail. The business found itself in hot water in 2024 after complying with a legal request to hand over the recovery email address for a Proton Mail account.
Hmm… this doesn’t sound good to me.
The business found itself in hot water in 2024 after complying with a legal request to hand over the recovery email address for a Proton Mail account.
Yep, that’s how the law works in Switzerland. It’s dumb, but every company based in Switzerland operates this way. Also, if you bothered to look into it, per Swiss law, VPN services are not required to retain any logs.
That, and if you were truly privacy focused, you wouldn’t have a recovery email on your Proton account in the first place.
I’d use vivaldi if they used Firefox engine
I’d use Firefox if they had Vivaldi feature parity
What this cat said.
I already use vivaldi, but i really wish this was possible too.
Glad you beat me to the post. I just signed on to bitch about this. Incredibly disappointed Vivaldi did this. Proton and it’s leadership are clearly no longer oriented with true privacy. Even if I didn’t despise Proton, most of us that care about this sort of thing already have VPN accounts and don’t want this bloat injected into our browser. This feels like Vivaldi finally jumping the shark to me. Each version feels more and more bloated.
For some reason I don’t trust any of these VPNs. How do you actually know what is happening with your traffic on the other end?
Wow that’s a crazy coop I never expected this
