Tuta and Proton: An Open Source Client Does Not Result in an Open Source Service
3 hours ago
- #email-privacy
- #open-source
- #misleading-marketing
- Tuta provides open-source clients but keeps its server-side code closed, preventing users from self-hosting or verifying backend operations.
- Proton Mail similarly markets its services as open source, despite not fully opening all components, which the author argues is misleading.
- Tuta's justification for not open-sourcing server code is verification concerns, but the author counters that open source offers broader benefits like trust and forkability.
- Tuta's clients lack reproducible builds on F-Droid, undermining claims that open-source clients guarantee no backdoors without self-building.
- The author emphasizes that labeling a service as open source based solely on client code is deceptive and driven by marketing rather than true openness.