J&K has long been a target of terror attacks. Long before Modi as PM.
Proton has no business inciting terrorists in known terrorist hotspots to evade the government.
Recent example: Venezuela. No need to explain this further.
Older example: Did the USA/NATO ever find those "Weapons of Mass Destruction" in Iraq? Oh wait, the WMDs were there, because they brought them there.. to wage that war.. war not on terror... but war for oil. They didn't find any WMDs, but they did find those rich oilfields, and looted them.. and set them on fire, when finally retreating.. from the war they started.. knowing that without tahat previous oil, the natives of that desert land will struggle to limp back to normalcy, even with a Western puppet as a "democratic leader".
Such tactics are "not a positive influence" on the world, because the world hates bullies. And thieves.
I am going to use your own words to show you the mirror now..
Your America and its democratically-voted (even if we can call gerrymandering such) orange dictator have become the "laughingstock of Western politics".
The "war on terror" excuse to do wars for oil, was coined by "Western politic(ian)s", "exacerbating" to "manufacture consent for authoritarian policy".
Recent example: Venezuela. It is pure greed and evil for a rich nation to seize a struggling country for its oil (struggling because of sanctions to prevent it from selling its oil legally). "Eyes roll whenever someone justifies drastic action on foreign nations based on vague pretexts/accusations".
Older example: Did the USA/NATO ever find those "Weapons of Mass Destruction" in Iraq? Oh wait, the WMDs were there, because they brought them there.. to wage that war.. war not on terror... but war for oil. They didn't find any WMDs, but they certainly quickly found those rich oilfields, and then systematically looted them.. and finally set them on fire, when retreating.. from the war they started.. knowing that without that precious oil, the natives of that desert land will struggle to limp back to normalcy, especially with a Western puppet as a "democratic leader" for "positive influence on national politics".
Such tactics are not "a positive influence" on the world, because the world hates bullies. And thieves.
They're not defending terrorism. They just don't believe that fighting terrorism is a good enough excuse to give up privacy.
They're not being hypocritical because they hold exactly that same view about the US government.
You may want governments to be able to read emails but for the vast majority of HN, strong privacy guarantees are a feature, not a bug.
Proton has been caught red-handed openly supporting subversive activities in a known terrorism hotspot.
After the Pehelgam terror attack (one of the deadliest terror attacks in the world, in recent memory - 26 tourists were gunned down in a tourist spot by jihadi terrorists) in Jammu & Kashmir, the police and anti-terror military task force did a sweep to find the terrorists. VPN and internet services were temporarily disabled in the incident area to prevent the terrorists from communicating with their handlers in Pakistan.
This was Proton's tweet after this terror attack tragedy: "In Jammu and Kashmir, police have been conducting random stops and house-to-house checks inspecting mobile phones to enforce a local ban on VPNs. A reminder that Proton VPN's mobile app has a "Discreet icon" setting to help disguise it."
https://tfipost.com/2026/01/profit-over-people-proton-vpn-ge...
High court in India also called for ban on Proton Mail for refusing to support an investigation into digital sexual abuse.
https://sflc.in/blocking-proton-mail-in-india-encryption-abu...
Someone sent hoax bomb threats to 13 private schools in India using Proton Mail. The local government sought the ban of Proton Mail due to (again) Proton not complying with the security investigation.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/it-ministry-looks-...
The only reason Proton's services have not been completely banned in India yet, is because the Swiss authorities intervene on its behalf to prevent the ban.
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/technology/swiss-authoriti...
After India's new cyber security laws went into effect, it was only Proton which pulled its servers from India, rather than comply with Indian government for such serious investigations.
Please note there are other Email and VPN providers operating in India, and they do the needful in complying with lawful investigations for safety of civilians and minors.
https://min.news/en/tech/d4a781733e394ff34a00e5c21977ea1d.ht...
Be careful who you trust.
They argue that Proton is so secure that even governments can't break it when they're trying to go after terrorists.
That's exactly the level of privacy and security I want for myself.
Lol, nondescript "terrorists and perverts" are the laughingstock of Western politics. Eyes roll whenever someone justifies drastic action on vague terrorism/perversion accusations: https://youtu.be/ud9zBKJJQe4
My bigger concern is Modi's international reputation for exacerbating crime statistics to manufacture consent for authoritarian policy. We've seen our fair share of that here in America and it's not a positive influence on national politics. So much so that we can't trust our own email providers to be secure.