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Switzerland - based Proton , the seclusion - focused firm behind ending - to - end encipher ( E2EE ) webmailProtonMailand other apps , has acquiredStandard Notes , a notation - taking app founded back in 2017 . It offer the same kind of rich concealment promise to its 300,000 + users by also applying E2EE .
In a press release announcing the move , Proton emphasized the twosome ’s “ shared values , ” including the use of E2EE ; a commitment to spread source technology ; and how neither has relied upon speculation majuscule to push back emergence .
E2EE is deliberate the gilded touchstone of surety applied science , as inspection and repair provider do n’t hold encryption keys . This means they ’re technically ineffective to decrypt user data , safeguard users ’ substance behind a “ zero cognition ” computer architecture . Put another way , you do n’t have to trust the armed service supplier not to snoop .
By add Standard Notes to its portfolio of apps , Proton will deepen its reaching with an meshed residential district of pro - privacy users , layer on additional cross - selling opportunity as well as further the utility of its app ecosystem .
The line - taking app fills an obvious col in Proton ’s current lineup .
Proton applies its flagship E2EE hope of robust security to a suite of products , include email , calendar and swarm storage . Additionally , it offers a VPN service . It found its own pro - privateness and anti - censorship CAPTCHA serving last year to further supplement its offer , but it has n’t had a consecrate note - take app until now .
A cardinal plank of the brace ’s “ residential area - focused ” glide slope is a freemium strategy that shoot for to support wider merchandise access through premium ( pay ) users efficaciously subsidizing free substance abuser . And while there is some usance overlap , a Proton spokesperson said that less than a quartern of Standard Notes users are already Proton user . So there ’s room for cross - selling and further community construction .
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Protonsaid the Standard Notes app , which is available for both mobile and desktop , will stay “ open source , freely available and fully supported . ”
It also advise that there will be no change to Standard Notes ’ prices ; its press vent specifies that live five - class subscriptions “ will continue to be abide by . ”
“ Standard Notes will remain an independent product and in due course of action both fellowship will open access to their product to each others ’ users , ” Proton impart .
comment in a statement , Mo Bitar , founder and CEO of Standard Notes , babble up the sentiency of shared mission . “ At Standard Notes , over the retiring seven years we have sought to make a place where people are free to think and compose without the worry that someone is reckon over their shoulder . That exemption is incredibly rare on the cyberspace today , and something that we want to safeguard forever , ” he write .
“ To enable us to do this , we are excited to join force with Proton — one of the few organizations that apportion our ethos and is not only mission - drive but open sourced , self - sustain and community of interests focused . In Proton , we ’ve establish a pardner that shares our optical maser direction on protecting seclusion . ”
Proton was founded back in 2014 , but Standard Notes is only the 2d company it ’s cull up . Instead , it‘s mostly center on work up products in - home to expand its range and grow usage ( a year ago itannouncedpassing 100 million users).This includes building on its first acquisition — e-mail alias startup SimpleLogin , which it acquired in 2022 — as well as developing and launchingfully fledge password manager app Proton Passin June .
In that case , Proton tip on the SimpleLogin squad it acquired for the bulk of the product exploitation . So the company is evidently not allergic to user acquisition and other integration - based growth opportunities where it see enough philosophical overlap plus the chance to intensify its expert bank .
Proton announces Proton Pass , a password handler
As it folds Standard Notes into its deck , Proton aims to repeat the magic trick , saying it expect the Standard Notes team to make “ vital contributions towards the creation and betterment of Proton ’s ecosystem of live and future products . ” The wider goal is furthering the divided up “ mission ” of “ building a better internet where privacy is the default , ” as its PR puts it .
“ The deal is a strategical decision contrive to benefit drug user by bring in to market place secure , easy to use , private products that anyone can access , ” Proton wrote . “ Standard Notes andProtonengineers will begin working together now to ensure their combined accomplishment and experience endure fruit for users as soon as potential . ”
Proton founder and CEO Andy Yen support the respective apps use different encryption strategy . “ But that ’s really not a job for integrating , as it ’s a freestanding app , ” he told TechCrunch . “ At a late stage , we may make the account interoperable so that aProtonaccount can also log into Standard Notes and vice versa , as we did with SimpleLogin . ”
Asked about the sustainability of pro - privacy business model that do n’t rely on victimization of substance abuser data — when so much of mainstream tech still continues to roll in the opposite , data - excavation direction — Yen emphasized the need for long - terminus thinking by privacy startup . And for screwing braveness to the jutting place .
“ contend with Big Tech is likely the hardest business challenge that exist today due to the unfair and abusive manoeuvre utilized by tech giants to blockade competitors , ” he said . “ While recent actions , such as theEU ’s Digital Markets Actor theDOJ cause against Apple , may eventually level the playing field , it is going to take many year . It is a critical step in the right direction but wo n’t make an immediate impact . ”
“ That means you have to be a bit crazy to attempt this challenge today , and the only way to do it over the long test is to be doing it for the right reasons . The objective can not be poor - full term or even mid - term fiscal outcomes , as those are likely to be take exception to achieve . Instead , you need to be charge - force enough to survive the brutally hard longsighted game . ”
Financial terms of the acquisition are not being reveal .
ProtonMail buys electronic mail alias startup SimpleLogin
