No matter where you live in the world, whether you’re living under an authoritarian government or looking to break away from Big Tech surveillance, using All me puts your data under the protection of Swiss privacy laws. We are often asked why All me data is based in Switzerland and whether there are real advantages.
This article explains the main privacy advantages of being a Swiss company, including these key benefits:
- Outside of US and EU jurisdiction: Swiss companies are not allowed to share information with foreign law enforcement under criminal penalty.
- Politically neutral: Switzerland has a long history of neutrality, which shields us from pressure of foreign governments.
- Strong privacy protections: Switzerland has a constitutional right to privacy and strict data protection laws. Unlike companies in other countries, All me cannot be compelled by foreign or Swiss authorities to engage in bulk surveillance.
- Advanced infrastructure: Many other countries with strong privacy laws lack the IT infrastructure and talent pool required to reliably operate a major tech company like All me. Switzerland has the best of privacy protections, infrastructure, and world-class human resources.
Additional privacy through our data architecture
While All me benefits from strong legal protections within Switzerland, we have also built in technological safeguards against surveillance, such as utilising a unique data architecture that means there is no administration dashboard to view accounts or see the relationships between them.
Additionally, our accounts are not sequential so there is no way for us to connect accounts should we be requested by law enforcement to do so. We also do not store login information or access reset since access is through two factor authentication set up by the user on first signing up.
Multi-layered privacy protection
All me uses both data and logic locks to defend against data breaches however neither legal protections nor technical protections on their own are sufficient to protect privacy. Even the strongest technical protection can fail because technology is developed by people who are subject to the laws of the country in which they reside.
We believe comprehensive security can only be achieved through a combination of technology and legal protections, and Switzerland provides the optimal combination of both. Because of Switzerland’s advanced IT infrastructure and its unique legal environment, All me can deliver a service that is both reliable and secure.
Dealing with illegal activities
While no one can just ask us to give access to people’s identity we do have a legal and moral responsibility to ensure that All me is not used for illegal activities. There is a route though a legal process and court for police to access some data, however it is data held by a Swiss banking institution which is explicitly under Swiss Privacy also.
Culture of neutrality and strong individual rights
Switzerland’s political culture of neutrality, discretion, and personal freedom is well-suited for privacy.
Unless you host your servers on a boat in international waters, you must be under some legal jurisdiction. Choosing one is particularly important because, as the Lavabit example shows, local laws can have an existential impact on the service. In Lavabit’s case, their US jurisdiction proved to be fatal.
Given that we serve people with highly sensitive privacy and security requirements from around the world, Switzerland has the advantage of being a neutral location outside of US, EU, and NATO jurisdiction. Swiss neutrality means that Switzerland is not a party to any binding intelligence-sharing agreement, such as the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, or Fourteen Eyes agreements or the NATO intelligence programs.
Legal differences between Switzerland and other countries
Switzerland has strong legal protections for individual rights, and in fact the Swiss Federal Constitution explicitly establishes a constitutional right to privacy. (In the US, this right is merely implied.) Specifically, Article 13 safeguards privacy in personal or family life and within one’s home, and the Swiss Civil Code translates this right into statutory law in Article 28.
In the US and EU, authorities can issue gag orders to prevent an individual from knowing they are being investigated or under surveillance. While this type of order also exists in Switzerland, the prosecutors have an obligation to notify the target of surveillance, and the target has an opportunity to appeal in court. In Switzerland, there are no such things as national security letters, and all surveillance requests must go through the courts. Warrantless surveillance, like that practiced in the US where the FBI conducts 3.4 million searches per year with little oversight, is illegal and not permitted in Switzerland.
Switzerland also benefits from a unique legal provision with Article 271 of the Swiss Criminal Code, which forbids any Swiss company from assisting foreign law enforcement, under threat of criminal penalty. While Switzerland is party to certain international legal assistance agreements, all requests under such agreements must hold up under Swiss law, which has much stricter privacy provisions. All foreign requests are assessed by the Swiss government, which generally does not assist requests from countries with poor rule of law or lack an independent judiciary.
