Latest news with #Threema
Tom's Guide
20-05-2025
- Business
- Tom's Guide
Proton VPN boss compares Switzerland to Russia and claims it could leave the country over proposed law
Proton boss Andy Yen has said the company will leave Switzerland if the country's new surveillance legislation becomes law. Switzerland is known for its strong privacy laws and is home to one of the best VPNs, Proton VPN. The law change would impact Proton VPN's credentials as one of the most private VPNs and would have a monumental effect on the wider VPN industry. Switzerland's current surveillance law instructs mobile networks and internet service providers (ISPs) to collect and store user data. The proposed change would extend this to VPNs, messaging apps, and social media companies. Having a strict no-logs policy is very important and a must-have to be considered a quality VPN provider. Collecting user information would severely breach these policies and undermine user privacy. Proton VPN would rather leave its Swiss home than risk the privacy of its users. The Swiss government's consultation on the proposals closed on May 6 2025, and we are awaiting its findings. Andy Yen spoke to Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) on May 13, and launched a scathing attack on the proposed legislative amendment. Yen described it as a "major violation of the right to privacy" – something that directly contradicts Proton's "privacy by default" tagline. "This revision attempts to implement something that has been deemed illegal in the EU and the United States," Yen claimed. "The only country in Europe with a roughly equivalent law is Russia." This is a damning comparison. Russia has some of the world's strictest VPN laws, has banned multiple VPNs from its app stores, and has a long history of internet censorship. In December 2024, it disrupted the internet across several regions in a rumoured test of its "sovereign internet structure." The only country in Europe with a roughly equivalent law is Russia The amendment's consultation phase ended on May 6. At the time of writing the findings aren't known. If the law is changed, Yen said "we would have no choice but to leave Switzerland." "The law would become almost identical to the one in force today in Russia. It's an untenable situation. We would be less confidential as a company in Switzerland than Google, based in the United States. So it's impossible for our business model." The law requires changes to encryption, as well as user data collection. An encryption backdoor would be demanded and new types of information and monitoring created. Proton's users exceed 100 million, with Proton VPN, Proton Mail, and the wider Proton ecosystem at risk. But other Swiss based companies who provide encrypted services would also be impacted – including the encrypted messaging app, Threema, and the newly launched VPN, NymVPN. NymVPN has been a vocal critic of the proposed amendment, with its Chief Operating Officer Alexis Roussel releasing a detailed statement. We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
News.com.au
01-05-2025
- News.com.au
‘Worst idea': Grim texts before the shooting murder of Yusuf Nazlioglu
A man allegedly gunned down after he stole two luxury cars from a Sydney business told a friend the theft was the 'worst idea' on the day he died, a court has heard. Yusuf Nazlioglu was shot dead as he exited one of the vehicles in a basement carpark in Rhodes on June 27, 2022, when a hooded man opened fire. The jury presiding in the NSW Supreme Court trial of three men charged with his murder have been told the failure to return two Mercedes Mr Nazlioglu had hired may provide 'some explanation and motive' for the shooting. Last week, the jury was shown messages Mr Nazlioglu sent an associate on the encrypted app Threema in the lead up to his death. Those messages, the court heard, were found on a phone examined by police on June 28, 2022 – with a screenshot showing the texts were sent 'yesterday'. In the messages, the 40-year-old discussed the stolen Mercedes with an associate who mentioned falling out with 'mates' over the incident. 'These two cars was dumb idea,' the associate wrote. Mr Nazlioglu agreed, saying it was 'the worst idea lol especially when there is money owed' before revealing he had been 'very emotional' recently. 'Sometimes I don't want to be around no more,' he wrote. Mr Nazlioglu said his wife Jade Jeske, known as Jade Heffer at the time, had said it 'was the worst idea and the worst plan and I agreed with her'. Both men said they looked like 'dirty c***s' among their associates, who Mr Nazlioglu thought 'loved me and had a lot of respect for me' before what he called a 'straight rip'. He also said another person, involved in the scheme, 'pretended to be me' on the phone and told someone chasing the vehicles 'you not getting the cars back'. 'We should not of agreed to do it brother its (sic) a s*** go especially to mates,' the associate replied. Mr Nazlioglu, who the court heard was acquitted Comanchero boss Mick Hawi's 2018 murder, was shot eight times at his Walker St apartment block. The court has been shown crime scene images of a black Mercedes E-class allegedly at the centre of his death riddled with bullet holes. It was hired alongside a white G-class from a western Sydney business on May 17 and 18, 2022 respectively with the help of his wife. Earlier in the trial, the jury was shown CCTV footage of hooded and masked men entering the carpark and taking back the car on May 23. Then, on May 26, CCTV captured Mr Nazlioglu stealing it again after its owner parked the vehicle on Castlereagh St in the CBD. Crown Prosecutor Eric Balodis said Ms Jeske had noticed the black Mercedes while its owner was streaming live on TikTok from the location. Mr Nazlioglu, who still had the key, was later caught on camera unlocking the E-class and driving away from the scene. The men on trial – Abdulrahman Atteya, Mohammed Hosni Khaled and Mohammed Baltagi – have pleaded not guilty and deny any part in the shooting. The Crown alleges that although they held no personal animosity toward Mr Nazlioglu, they were acting for unknown persons. Mr Atteya is accused of being one of two men who lay in wait inside a Volkswagen Golf for Mr Nazlioglu at the carpark on the night he died. He is accused of being either the shooter or the getaway co-accused denies allegations that they helped in preparing getaway vehicles. Mr Atteya's barrister, David Dalton SC, told the jury his client was not involved at any stage and that Mr Nazlioglu had several enemies. 'Mr Nazlioglu had only been released (from prison) for some couple of months before he was in fact killed himself and there will be evidence, that as far as he was concerned, a number of people wanted to kill him.' The trial before Justice Deborah Sweeney continues.
