Proton doesn't really support anonymous payments. Let's demand that they do

Nostromo:

What does Proton know about you that makes you say you are not anonymous to Proton? Your username? Is that it?

The fact that you’re asking me this means that you have not read my post or any of my replies to comments where I give specific examples of what the issue is. I keep having to repeat myself because you don’t seem to want to read.

Nostromo:

Your username? Is that it?

No, that is not it.

When a Proton agent receives your username, they can see many details about your profile.

They can see what type of account you have (free or paid) They can see what services you are subscribed to (Proton Unlimited? Proton Pass Plus?) They can see when you created your account. They can see your billing cycle. They can see which country your last payment was from. They can see how many aliases you have and what websites they are for.

They can see many things about how you use your account.

Whether Proton agents choose to look or not is completely irrelevant. The point is, they have the power to do so the moment you hand over your username. I don’t want that. I do not want to draw the attention of a Proton agent to my account when I make a payment.

When I make a credit card payment to renew my subscription no Proton agent is aware of it. I want it to be the same when I make a cash payment.

I have shared in multiple comments that I have personally experienced customer service agents of various services making unwarranted observations about my account with them, and it had nothing to do with the reason why I contacted them.

I have also had customer agents make changes to my account without my consent after I gave them my info. This has happened to me, and it has happened to friends of mine.

It’s because of these experiences that I don’t want to draw unnecessary human attention to my account.

Proton doesn’t need to require usernames to accept cash payments, so they should stop doing so to protect users’ privacy because their current system is not anonymous.

Nostromo:

This is like saying because you make an account here on the forum and use the name you use, you are not anonymous to PG.

You don’t seem to get it.

The PG staff and community may not know your real name or where you are from. But anyone who looks at your profile and goes through your posts and comments will know what your specific interests are. Patterns will emerge.

When you generate data, as we all do, patterns will always emerge. This is the case for any PG user who makes posts and comments, and even those who only express themselves through emojis.

I don’t know if you’ve ever visited the subreddit r/AmITheAasshole but many Redditors who have made posts there have been exposed for having gaps in their story or how they presented themselves.

You know how they were exposed?

Someone looked at their profile, went through their post and comment history, and revealed through screenshots that OP is a liar, or a racist, or a sexist, or a bully, etc…

Nobody knew OP’s real name. Just their username.