“Telegram is not a private messenger. There’s nothing private about it. It’s the opposite. It’s a cloud messenger where every message you’ve ever sent or received is in plain text in a database that Telegram the organization controls and has access to it”
“It’s like a Russian oligarch starting an unencrypted version of WhatsApp, a pixel for pixel clone of WhatsApp. That should be kind of a difficult brand to operate. Somehow, they’ve done a really amazing job of convincing the whole world that this is an encrypted messaging app and that the founder is some kind of Russian dissident, even though he goes there once a month, the whole team lives in Russia, and their families are there.”
" What happened in France is they just chose not to respond to the subpoena. So that’s in violation of the law. And, he gets arrested in France, right? And everyone’s like, oh, France. But I think the key point is they have the data, like they can respond to the subpoenas where as Signal, for instance, doesn’t have access to the data and couldn’t respond to that same request. To me it’s very obvious that Russia would’ve had a much less polite version of that conversation with Pavel Durov and the telegram team before this moment"
Pretty sure signal is not the best option, but telegram should be avoided at all costs.
How is signal not the best option?
Signal is good because it is easy to get others on board because of its simplicity, while having good encryption and security. However, SimpleX is just a better option. No phone number required, the same encryption, you can make a new profile whenever you want and you can have however many you want at a time. The groups can hold thousands of people. You can have it automatically make a new anonymous profile for you for each contact and group so that you can’t be tracked across them apart from your writing style. There are no usernames, you add each other through links, which can be temporary or permanent, and you can add or remove a link whenever you want.
Sorry for that big wall of text, I just spat out all the things SimpleX is better for. I think that it’s platform is the future.
the tracking argument against signal is pretty weak imo… signal has no ability to build a social graph because in 2018 they implemented a feature called sealed sender which is a cryptographic mechanism that allows you to send a message without disclosing to signal who you are (the receiver still knows, and rate limiting still works)
the reality of signal having your phone number is they know you (as an identity/person) use signal and that’s it
Tbf, there’s options that are just as secure and don’t require a phone # to register, but that doesn’t make Signal bad
Signal does not require a phone number to register anymore, afaik.
Signal still requires a phone number. What was added is usernames for contacts, so you no longer need to give other people your phone number for them to contact you. It is a step in the right direction, but it would be great for them to get rid of the phone number requirement all together.
Ah thank you for the clarification!
it does at least on android, you don’t need to share it tho, there are usernames now
Why do you say signal is not the best option? My only discomfort with it is the phone number requirement (and I think they maybe relaxed that)
Phone number requirements + afaik servers are in USA + it was some cryptocurrency related story (they tried to add some crypto wallet at some point)
You mean one of the few countries not currently trying to dismantle encryption?
Yeah, you can make payments with MobileCoin. 🤮
Luckily, Signal does give you the option to completely ignore it. I only see it mentioned in the settings and I have not enabled it.
Same with stories, you can enable/disable them. Although, if I want to convince my normies friends to look at Signal using stories probably helps that. 🤷
Ah I am not bothered by the cryptocurrency … thing. It’s pretty well buried in the app, and doesn’t seem like anything they’re particularly trying to push. More like a failed experiment.
It’s important to remember that for a lot of programs that have some tangentially related crypto feature, crypto used to be popular. It still is popular in some circles. There was a time when it made sense to include those features because users were asking for it. So time, money, and energy was spent to add those features.
What do you expect them to do with those feature now? You really think they’re just going to delete them? Why would they remove an already developed and implemented feature? They hurt nothing. People don’t have to use them. Them existing doesn’t take anything away from the app functionality.
It’s like being upset that old car models weren’t recalled to remove ash trays and cigarette lighters when smoking became unpopular.
It’s not the wallet itself that bothers me (it is these days equivalent of adding some ai feature), but the story behind their involvement with and promotion of a particular blockchain or coin . Frankly can’t recall all the details .
Damn near everyone was making a coin at some point. Again, why would they remove or get rid of a feature they spent time, money, and energy to develop when it doesn’t hurt anything by being there. In fact, they’d have to spend more time, money, and energy to remove it than if they just left it in place.
Context:
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/6829998083994-Phone-Number-Privacy-and-Usernames-Deeper-Dive
Supported by US nasty agencies… They do NOT care about any-ones ‘privacy’ and would only support if they have another purpose or a way in…
What do you mean?
DoDDOW uses it, it must be super secure /sIt is as long as you pay attention to who is in a group chat