It says that “100% of the proceeds will be donated” and I recognize a few projects in their list that are worth supporting. While this still feels a bit like an ad, I thought it was newsworthy + something that the Fediverse would be supportive of?
Please share if you see any issues with this, and I can edit it into this post (or take down the post).
Full details on the link in the post, summary:
Join our charity fundraiser before it ends on January 5th
Since 2018, with support from the Proton community, we have financially supported non-profit organizations that share this vision, donating over $3 million to fuel a growing movement for a better internet. For this year’s fundraiser, we’re giving away 10 Proton Lifetime accounts, our most exclusive plan that gives you the most storage and all the features of all our current and future products, forever.
Starting today, you can enter the raffle to win a Lifetime plan. 100% of the proceeds will be donated, along with a $150,000 matching contribution from Proton. Raffle tickets are on sale from now until January 5 at 11:59 PM CET. We’ll announce the winners the following day.
Recipient details:
A portion of the funds will also go to a few organizations from past years, such as Tor, GrapheneOS, and others, as many nonprofits have seen drops in donations and are struggling to reach their budget goals.
this year’s recipients:
- Freedom House
- Free Software Foundation Europe
- Law for Change
- Ada Lovelace Institute
- Nothing2Hide
- Free Press Unlimited
- The Tech Oversight Project
- Open Data Institute
- OpenStreetMap
- Ladybird
You seemed to use Proton as an example of that. Maybe I read it differently than you intended.
I don’t think it is. My point is that Proton is a product of capitalism, as in, like any corporation, they found/created a niche and filled it. That you like this company and not others has more to do with you liking the niche than anything altruistic you think Proton is doing.
Proton is overpriced for what they offer, but they can charge that much because of brand recognition. Look at Tuta, a for profit company that offers similar services with more features for less.
Proton is a product of a competive market, and that’s a good thing.
The irony is, I like proton because I don’t think you should trust literally any business to behave altruistically, including proton. By structuring the business in the manner that they have, I don’t just have to trust them. I just have to trust that the people in charge don’t want to go to jail or get fined, which is literally not true for any business owned by private individuals.
Well yeah, Proton is basically capitalism working as intended. They’re a smallish business exploiting a gap in the market.