The Karnataka High Court has directed the Indian government to block access to Proton Mail, an encrypted email service based in Switzerland.

The order, issued on April 29, 2025, follows a complaint from M Moser Design Associates in New Delhi. The firm alleged its employees received offensive emails via the service.

Justice M Nagaprasanna instructed the government to enforce the block under the Information Technology Act of 2008.

The complaint claimed Proton Mail did not provide information about the sender despite a police report.

Aravind Kamath, the additional solicitor general, said criminal courts could request details from Swiss authorities due to jurisdictional limits. Proton Mail remains accessible in India, according to TechCrunch.

🔗 Source: TechCrunch

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ India’s expanding digital surveillance conflicts with privacy-focused services

The Proton Mail case highlights a broader pattern of escalating tension between privacy technologies and Indian government surveillance capabilities that has been building since 2008.

Following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, India established the Central Monitoring System, granting authorities expansive access to electronic communications without requiring user or ISP awareness 1.

This surveillance infrastructure was further strengthened in 2022 when India implemented regulations requiring VPN providers to collect and store extensive user data for five years, a move that directly conflicts with privacy-focused business models 2.

Proton responded by removing its physical VPN servers from India in September 2022, replacing them with “Smart Routing” servers in Singapore that still provide Indian IP addresses while maintaining the company’s no-logs policy 3.

The current court order against Proton Mail represents an escalation in this ongoing conflict, moving beyond VPN services to target encrypted email communications that the government cannot monitor under its surveillance framework.

2️⃣ Swiss jurisdiction creates significant legal hurdles for Indian authorities

Proton’s Swiss headquarters provides substantial legal protection that complicates Indian authorities’ ability to compel data disclosure in criminal investigations.

Under Swiss law, Proton cannot directly share user data with foreign governments. All requests must go through Swiss authorities, creating additional procedural requirements for Indian investigators 4.