Indian High Court orders blockade of encrypted email service Proton Mail

According to Cointelegraph, the High Court of Karnataka, India, ruled on April 29th to immediately ban the encrypted email service Proton Mail, citing the country's 2008 Information Technology Act authorization. The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by a design company in New Delhi in January, accusing its employees of receiving offensive emails through the service. Proton Mail faced a ban proposal in March 2024 due to a "false bomb threat," but it was ultimately not implemented. This ruling reflects the tightening of global regulation on encrypted communication platforms, following the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France for content censorship issues. It is worth noting that Proton Mail's Swiss parent company provided user data to Spanish authorities in 2024, sparking privacy advocates' questioning of centralized services.