ProtonMail Takes Aim at Google With an Encrypted Calendar

Encrypted email provider ProtonMail has officially launched its new calendar in public beta. The move is part of the Swiss company's broader push to offer privacy-focused alternatives to Google's key products. From a report: ProtonMail has been talking about its plans to launch an encrypted calendar for a while. But starting from today, all ProtonMail users on a paid plan will be able to access ProtonCalendar, and it will be opened to everyone when it exits beta in 2020. "Our goal is to create and make widely accessible online products [that] serve users instead of exploiting them," said ProtonMail CEO Andy Yen. ProtonMail hasn't set out to reinvent the wheel in terms of the features and format of ProtonCalendar. It sports a clean interface with views by month and day, color-coded event types, and so on. It is also tied to a user's ProtonMail email account.

which what protocols ?

[johnjones]

how do you access the calendar, only through the web ?

personally I need standard CalDav access otherwise this is just another web calendar and app of which there are plenty that can be run on your phone...

also : calendar.protonmail.com’s server IP address could not be found.

not great start...

Re:

[bblb]

It's integrated into the Proton Mail 4.0 beta... it's part of the app if you're in the beta. If you're not, it'll drop when 4.0 goes live. Been awhile since I did anything with CalDav but I don't believe it supports end to end encryption so pretty sure it won't be accessible via CalDav.

CalDav supports End to End encryption

[johnjones]

CalDav supports TLS1.3 which is end to end encryption

FUD

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

With this, the "end" is at the user side, and ProtonMail has no access to your data.
Given that, how do you propose they send you (unencrypted) CalDav data, even over TLS?

Fudge

Re:

[realape]

it's a beta for paid users only. Currently it's only bare bone but more features are announced. If you really want to know you can more you can read it on the blog and even ask stuff in the comments. They often reply.

Re:

[jittles]

also : calendar.protonmail.com’s server IP address could not be found.

not great start...

You are aware that RFC5785 was created to publish well known protocols to allow service discovery form a URL, right? So I am not sure why you would think there is any need for a calendar subdomain whatsoever. Are you trolling for Google or do you have some sort of bone to pick with ProtonMail?

Calendars are somewhat different than email

[93 Escort Wagon]

You do sometimes want to share direct access to your calendar; and often you do want to see other people’s calendars alongside your own - which may be on a different provider’s server. The common solution has been to follow the iCalendar standard - I’ll be curious to see how Proton approaches this.

Re:Calendars are somewhat different than email

[93 Escort Wagon]

My calendar is for me alone. Other people's calendars are for them alone.

I’m guessing you’re a kid, AC - you’ve obviously never worked in any sort of professional environment.

Re:Calendars are somewhat different than email

[0100010001010011]

What ever they come up with, it can't be worse than Lotus Notes.

Re:

[rtb61]

People forget when M$ Outlook used to be called M$ LOOKOUT, as it routinely crashed. At the end of the day people are more willing to pay for core privacy focused apps when they come 'free' with the hardware, as in pay a premium for the hardware.

Companies like Proton will always be undercut by premium hardware offering the say privacy focused services.

Also regardless of software on top, the hardware can always be used to backdoor any software running on that hardware and the operating system also can alway

Re:Calendars are somewhat different than email

[jonwil]

Having worked in a professional environment I can absolutely see why shared calendars are necessary. Bosses need to be able to see everyone's calendar to find a time everyone is free so they can schedule another useless meeting. Co-workers need to be able to see everyone's calendar to know when someone is free so they can bother that person with questions they should be able to answer on their own. Higher-ups need to be able to see everyone's calendar so they can schedule useless mandatory corporate training and other BS.

Re:Calendars are somewhat different than email

[Bert64]

Generally people don't even consult the calendars, and will happily bother you with questions or invite you to meetings even when you're not free.

Re:

[nonBORG]

That does not work if you need to get 10+ people to your meeting, they just will not come and if you have some rules (Like I used to have to work with) that you need all these people to sign off on a stage to move to next dev stage you end up having to meet with them separately as if the original meeting was not a big enough waste of time because some clown failed to show up you have to go and talk to them for 30 minutes to get their sign off. Calendar sharing is very important in a large more cooperate env

Re:Calendars are somewhat different than email

[weilawei]

This is why I use a script to autofill my shared calendars with randomly generated events for each half an hour block. By burying my true schedule in the noise, I prevent the calendar analysis vulnerabilities you describe, which might potentially lead to face-to-face time, or, worse, meetings.

(That was a joke; just in case anyone actually does this.)

Re: Calendars are somewhat different than email

[Aristos Mazer]

Shared calendars are valuable even within families. When you have multiple kids, especially teens, knowing when they are going to be home, who needs to be driven where, and which parent is involved is important. In this age, it is too easy to miss family dinners if you do not block those out on calendar.

Re: Calendars are somewhat different than email

[Malc]

Itâ(TM)s not just in a professional environment: I have a shared calendar with my wife. Much easier than when we had a shared calendar hanging from the kitchen wall.

But in a professional setting, itâ(TM)s also nice being able to see my personal calendars alongside my work ones. Makes it much easier to plan stuff, especially inter-office travel and the occasional out-of-hours cross time zone meeting.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

And nobody gives a shit about what you think of calendars.

Re: Calendars are somewhat different than email

[Aristos Mazer]

Coordinated activities, meeting invites: these require some level of knowledge of everyoneâ(TM)s calendars, at least to know when the free blocks will be. Looking ahead to know which not-free blocks are vacation and which are just busy meeting days is required for product planning. If you are part of a team, family, or social circle, your calendar is not just for you. It is for everyone in that group who needs to sync with you.

Re:

[nonBORG]

I had to turn off my google calendar and I kept getting spam appointments. I would get reminders that were to call have teleconference etc with the spammers. I tried a few things but as I rarely used it I just turned all notification off from it. Not sure that it is easy to solve calendar spam but it seems to be a thing.

Re: Smells Like Horse Shit

[Aristos Mazer]

Did you read the summary? The summary answers that. You do not even have to read the article.

Re: Smells Like Horse Shit

[Malc]

Why would you use Google? Besides, TNSTAAFL.

Mailbox Password

[notdecnet]

Where is the 'Mailbox Password' stored, since if I move browser I can still log-in?