'There are no such things as National Security Letters and all surveillance requests MUST go through the courts,' the company added, referring to secret subpoenas that do not require judicial approval and cannot be disclosed by companies. The company is headquartered there because Switzerland is not a part of the European Union nor the US and has strong privacy laws. 'We believe that comprehensive security can only be achieved through a combination of technology and legal protections and Switzerland provides the optimal combination of both,' ProtonMail writes on its website.

ProtonMail, on the other hand, is based in Switzerland, so the US government could potentially have a harder time serving legal requests to the company. Google complies with tens of thousands of search warrants and subpoenas every year, according to its transparency report (it also has a userbase that is many orders of magnitude larger than ProtonMail's.) Google's parent, Alphabet, is a US-based corporation and regularly responds to legal requests to turn over consumer data. If your concern is the government accessing your email using a legal warrant request, ProtonMail is the best choice for you. This is what cybersecurity experts call ' threat modeling.' The answer to these questions will determine which email provider is best suited for your needs.Īre you worried about the US government using its legal powers to read your emails?

The first thing you need to consider and assess is what you're worried about and what you are trying to protect exactly.

Each have their pros and cons, but for the vast majority of users, Gmail is the better choice.

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