Privacy Without Compromise: Proton VPN is Now Built Into Vivaldi

DerSchlingel

@Catweazle Concerning donations I remember them being very hesitant and as you said allowing only because of some people wanting to help und support.
But in my experience this has changed significantly. You'll see "support this browser"-icons quite everywhere lately. And there's even much more talk about donating. You also see it in the badges that are given to supporters among whom there are even employees.
This is a quite a move from: "We give you the opportunity, if you really really want to give us some money" to "help us build this wonderful browser that you probably love like we do" - isn't it?

luetage

@zau4man What are you talking about? Of course Vivaldi is associated with Proton, they partnered up. Just like Vivaldi is associated with Quwant, Ecosia, Startpage, etc.

Pesala

@errantKnight For me, it is the opposite. I share your opinions about Trump being deeply immoral, but so too was Joe Biden (and most other presidents before him). Recent imprisonment of British patriots for criticising the government, or getting upset at the rape and murder of children by immigrants (many of them illegal immigrants), has led me to wonder if I need to start using a VPN to conceal my identity when posting online.

Never before have I thought that expressing conservative views would be censored, censured, and even criminalised. The Liberals are at an all-time low of popularity in the US and free speech is in danger in Europe like never before. (Free speech does not mean the freedom to incite violence, or to slander others; just the option to use language or express opinions that might offend someone).

Pesala

@zau4man The extension is not installed on upgrading. Clicking the VPN button will install it and enable it. Only logging in will activate it. I just updated to the latest Snapshot, which now has the VPN button. As you can see, the extension is not installed.

Installed Extension.png

IMO, the only change needed is to clarify that the button will install the extension, or better still, remove the button and provide a checkbox in Settings, Privacy and Security to install and enable the extension.

rpsgc

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this but I'm having several issues with the VPN:

• Not auto connecting on start (it is enabled)
• It keeps connecting me to a (very slow) US server (I'm in Europe).
• It looses connection and doesn't reconnect when the computer comes out of sleep.

Their contact form doesn't have an option for Vivaldi and I don't have an account with them.

Catweazle

@rpsgc, I use the CyberGhost extension, it's a proxy which permits me to skip some country restrictions. In it's free versión it has only 4 countries, but which you can freely select, no logs, no speed throttle, encrypted, no datalimit, enough for my needs. CyberGhost also has a very good VPN for Desktop (paid).

Catweazle

@errantKnight said in Privacy Without Compromise: Proton VPN is Now Built Into Vivaldi:

I'm very disappointed by this decision.

I was a long time subscriber to Proton, but cancelled all of my proton subscriptions in early 2025 when I became aware that their CEO had made social media posts concerning their support for American politicians / political parties I find deeply and gravely immoral (I don't need to rehash it here, people can investigate for themselves if they are interested.) And support for those politicians also leads me to question Proton CEO's own morals, ethics, commitment to privacy etc, as the political faction he took time to praise is against all of those things.

It is unfortunate I as a consumer made an informed decision to sever a relationship with Proton only to have this extension from their company put into my browser (and yes, I know I can remove the button from my toolbar and uninstall the extension, the point stands.) I sadly have to consider if I want to continue my relationship with Vivaldi.

The MAGA support by Proton isn't true, it was about an tuit out of context, related to the antitrust lawsuite, which was spreeded by Reddit. Proton has nothing to do with MAGA.
https://medium.com/@ovenplayer/does-proton-really-support-trump-a-deeper-analysis-and-surprising-findings-aed4fee4305e

Zalex108

@Pesala said in Privacy Without Compromise: Proton VPN is Now Built Into Vivaldi:

@luetage It continues trying to connect every time I start the browser, unless I go to disable the extension.

Hi,
On SNAP 7.4.3648.3 (Official Build) (64-bit)

Works fine disabling the Auto connect from the settings

npro

@electryon said in Privacy Without Compromise: Proton VPN is Now Built Into Vivaldi:

In case you do not know Vivaldi comes with 6 extensions pre-installed.

Google Store
Vivaldi Picture-In-Picture
Vivaldi Theme Store
Chromium PDF Viewer
Google Hangouts
Vivaldi
Should they ask for every extension they ship to be installed or not?

Well of all those 6, 3 are Vivaldi-made, Chromium is what Vivaldi is based on anyway so it is basically "Vivaldi", and Chromium is basically Google's owned open-source project so it includes the Google Store for the extensions and themes anyway, while the VPN extension is written by Proton AG which is a 3rd-party. So the question would be only about Google Hangouts basically. But I agree with you about that mistake, and that is what happens when you bypass your standard release model in order to... "surprise" everyone.

luetage

@Catweazle You do realize this article is AI trash, do you?

Hadden89

@jon one thing I didn't understood clearly... using a proton account or linking the vivaldi account is exactly is the same, is it ?
(ok, we exclude the revenue to our devs of linking the service, of course and the slightly better integration)

funtaril

@ThePfromtheO said in Privacy Without Compromise: Proton VPN is Now Built Into Vivaldi:

@chillZ But this is NOT enabled by default!
The extension is installed only when you tap on the VPN button, and you can then uninstall it at any time!

You're acting like clicking on suddenly appeared button is some kind of fully aware decision made after reading all terms and conditions (of which there is none presented to user after the update), and not just natural action if you want to find out what can you do to make it disappear.

Ricarda

Damn it all! Please fix all the old errors, bugs and the disastrous junk that has accumulated here over the past few months.

Damn it all! Please read the MANY, MANY error messages and malfunctions of the past months in this so-called browser!!!!

Damn it again! Instead of constantly implementing gimmicks here that nobody asked for and that many people don't even want.

What the hell has happened to the once great VIVALDI?

An untidy construction site like no other ....

Pesala

@Ricarda said in Privacy Without Compromise: Proton VPN is Now Built Into Vivaldi:

Damn it all!

Language!

funtaril

@mossman said in Privacy Without Compromise: Proton VPN is Now Built Into Vivaldi:

Don't want it? Don't click it - and delete the button if it bothers you.

Welcome to our exquisite restaurant!
Oh, I see you have touched a note on your table that said "butt plug". You might have noticed that a shiny new plug was indeed quietly inserted up your butt after that.

But no need to worry - you can always safely remove it and live your life like nothing ever happened. And if you didn't want it inside of you, you shouldn't have touched the note in first place!

Really, your dissatisfaction with our impeccable service is your own fault. Our partner makes the the most comfortable, clean and safe butt plugs and there's no reason to be upset. It doesn't even vibrate unless you turn it on.

Pesala

@Zalex108 That is not the point. I just wanted to show that clicking the button installed and enabled the VPN extension. After clicking that button, users have to take positive steps to disable or remove the extension, which is not a good default policy.

I suggest removing the button, and doing everything in Settings, Privacy and Security. Install, Enable, Disable, and uninstall.

Catweazle

@luetage, maybe not

https://insights.priva.cat/p/a-follow-up-on-does-proton-still

funtaril

@yngve said in Privacy Without Compromise: Proton VPN is Now Built Into Vivaldi:

I suspect that a number of users who know what is going on will file bug reports asking us to "remove that unnecessary dialog"

Are you saying that notifications which properly inform users about new features (and request permission to integrate unsolicited 3rd party software) should not be added to programs because someone more experienced might get annoyed by them?
This is the hottest take I've seen here.

RedSnt

This is a great team-up. Sure, you can't select a specific country without paying, but it's a lot better than nothing.
And sure I don't agree with Proton's CEO's pro-Trump sentiments.
But I had a look at European VPN providers and I couldn't really find another one that provides an in-browser extension/addon like Proton does. It has been over 15 years since I needed a VPN for anything but avoiding geoblocking after all, so system-wide VPN seems overkill for my use.

I've used NordVPN for maybe 4 years, but my subscription ends in 2 months. I might just go with Proton VPN now.

electryon

@npro said in Privacy Without Compromise: Proton VPN is Now Built Into Vivaldi:

@electryon said in Privacy Without Compromise: Proton VPN is Now Built Into Vivaldi:

In case you do not know Vivaldi comes with 6 extensions pre-installed.

Google Store
Vivaldi Picture-In-Picture
Vivaldi Theme Store
Chromium PDF Viewer
Google Hangouts
Vivaldi
Should they ask for every extension they ship to be installed or not?

Well of all those 6, 3 are Vivaldi-made, Chromium is what Vivaldi is based on anyway so it is basically "Vivaldi", and Chromium is basically Google's owned open-source project so it includes the Google Store for the extensions and themes anyway, while the VPN extension is written by Proton AG which is a 3rd-party. So the question would be only about Google Hangouts basically. But I agree with you about that mistake, and that is what happens when you bypass your standard release model in order to... "surprise" everyone.

I would agree if the extension wasn't open source. So it doesn't matter who is coding it.
Vivaldi no matter how it is shipped (normal extension or oem extension) has the obligation now to monitor it.
Vivaldi is responsible for it because it ships it, not Proton AG.
Oem or not oem if something goes wrong with the extension Vivaldi Technologies is responsible for it.
Also the extension they ship is a modified one, you can only login with a proton account in the original extension.
Vivaldi is modifying it.
Vivaldi would avoid all this discussion and wouldn't give to people arguments for confirmations dialogs etc if they just shipped it as oem.
This is one of the most requested features Vivaldi ever had and you see what happens.
Anyone who thought that a small company like Vivaldi Technologies would be capable to build its own global server infrastructure and to offer the feature without a 3rd party involved is just unreasonable.
This whole discussion would be avoided if Vivaldi wasn't that "nice" and if they shipped it like every other extension they ship.
They should follow the Opera, the Brave and the Edge way of including their VPN proxy feature.