Is this seventy percent discount a sign of a healthy market?
It is a sign of desperation in a saturated market. When every influencer on the planet is screaming about VPNs, the only way to get noticed is to basically give the product away. They are not doing this because they love you. They are doing this because they need to pad their subscriber numbers before the next board meeting. A two year commitment is a long time in tech years. By the time this subscription ends, we will probably be browsing the web via neural implants that bypass encryption entirely.
Wait, will this actually stop my ISP from spying on me?
Sure, your ISP will just see a big blob of encrypted data. Instead, you are giving all that information to Proton. You are trading one corporate overlord for another. The only difference is that one has a nice website and a discount code. This deal is for people who want to feel like they are taking control of their lives without actually doing any of the hard work required to secure their digital footprint. It is the security equivalent of buying a treadmill and using it as a clothes rack.
Is Proton even better than the dozens of other options?
They claim to be the virtuous ones because they are based in Switzerland. That is the tech equivalent of saying your organic kale was grown in a special valley. It sounds nice, but it does not change the fact that you are still eating kale. The deals are just bait to get you into the ecosystem. Once you are in, they hope you will sign up for their mail, calendar, and whatever other overpriced productivity tools they decide to launch next. They want your entire digital identity behind their paywall.
The reality of the situation is simple. You are paying for peace of mind, not actual security. Most people buy these subscriptions, use them for three days to watch a show that is blocked in their region, and then forget about it until the credit card charge hits again in two years. If you really want to save one hundred percent, just stop clicking on shady links and use a browser that does not treat your history like a public ledger. But that does not come with a shiny discount sticker, does it?
Proton is trying to lock down cash flow because the VPN bubble is eventually going to pop. When every browser starts building in these features for free, companies like this will have to find a new way to scare you into a subscription. For now, you can enjoy your cheap tunnel to a server in Iceland while pretending that the internet is a safe place again. Just do not be surprised when you forget to cancel and the renewal fee bites you in twenty-four months.
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