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Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

whispersystems.org

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Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#121

Post by junto »

finnn wrote: post #100
blub wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any chance of not requiring access to the whole contact list? I think there are pickers that allow selecting one contact - or better yet, one could allow adding contacts inside Signal.

Probably not because they check that against the list of people who have Signal installed so they can send encrypted messages to the people who support it. They talk more about how they try to do this privately in [0]. [0]: https://whispersystems.org/blog/contact-discovery/

I had a problem where one of my contracts uninstalled Textsecure, and went back to the vanilla SMS app. Now all the messages he received from me are garbled. Somehow they need a way to disassociate phones AFTER the app has been uninstalled.

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#122

Post by marssaxman »

verusfossa wrote: post #58

TextSecure used to be on fDroid, then this happened https://f-droid.org/posts/security-notice-textsecure/ . Now it's a GPlay exclusive. I don't have GAPPS so now I can't get it. I'd assume many privacy conscious people don't have GAPPS. I understand the technical hurtles, but it's too big a pill to swallow.

Assuming that by "GAPPS" you mean the Google Play Store etc., my strategy has been as follows:

- copy all data to a computer

- wipe the phone

- set up a google account with bogus information

- install all the apps i might ever want to use

- delete the account info and remove google stuff

- copy personal data back onto the phone

This is a big hassle, so I only do it once a year or so, but it seems to work ok.

Of course I have no way of verifying that the phone actually deletes my data when I tell it to, or that it actually deletes the Google stuff when I tell it to, or really much of anything about what it is doing or who it is talking to, so I still don't trust it - but I mistrust it slightly less, I suppose, than I would if the google apps were running.

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#123

Post by haffenloher »

gcb0 wrote: post #118
Tepix wrote: post #55

Signal is pretty awesome, it's by far the best that we have right now: • state of the art crypto • open source • free as in beer • Available for Android and iOS There are a few minor features that are missing but I can live with that. However, there are also a couple of important shortcomings: • no decentralization • use of the phone number I hope they can be fixed sooner or later.

It is not opensource. the client WAS. the server i don't think was ever.

These are the client (GPLv3) and server (AGPLv3) repositories:

https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure

https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure-Server

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#125

Post by mahyarm »

Tepix wrote: post #55

Signal is pretty awesome, it's by far the best that we have right now: • state of the art crypto • open source • free as in beer • Available for Android and iOS There are a few minor features that are missing but I can live with that. However, there are also a couple of important shortcomings: • no decentralization • use of the phone number I hope they can be fixed sooner or later.

For me, the big thing that will make signal usable as a chat system is multi-device access. I'm at a computer most of the time, and much rather use my keyboard. Hell I would even hack the iOS client and make it an OSX client once they have multidevice support baked in. The ability to seamlessly move between my phone, tablet & computer is vital, so I use iMessage.

Whisper is working on a chrome version, so I am excited for the eventual multi-device.

Then to make money, maybe Whisper can make Signal: The Slack Edition and sell it for $4/month/user. They will host your WhisperSlack servers, but with client side encryption, never know it's contents! Even with compliance exports.

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#126

Post by Spittie »

marssaxman wrote: post #122
verusfossa wrote: post #58

TextSecure used to be on fDroid, then this happened https://f-droid.org/posts/security-notice-textsecure/ . Now it's a GPlay exclusive. I don't have GAPPS so now I can't get it. I'd assume many privacy conscious people don't have GAPPS. I understand the technical hurtles, but it's too big a pill to swallow.

Assuming that by "GAPPS" you mean the Google Play Store etc., my strategy has been as follows: - copy all data to a computer - wipe the phone - set up a google account with bogus information - install all the apps i might ever want to use - delete the account info and remove google stuff - copy personal data back onto the phone This is a big hassle, so I only do it once a year or so, but it seems to work ok. Of cours…

You might be interested in Racoon[1], which is a desktop client (Java) for downloading apps from the Play Store, or into BlankStore [2][3], which is an alternative mobile client.

Both are FOSS projects.

[1] http://www.onyxbits.de/raccoon

[2] https://github.com/mar-v-in/BlankStore

[3] http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1715375

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#127

Post by anonbanker »

vox_mollis wrote: post #76
IshKebab wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the centralisation and use of the phone number is necessary to make it not shit. Anyway you forgot the important features: * Nice modern UI * Integrates with SMS * Supports group chats * Uses MMS for group chat if not all members have Signal * Not really buggy or hard to use

Huge respect for Moxie, but the requirement of a phone number really is a dealkiller. 1. Phone number requires a service provider 2. Service provider owns the baseband and root of your phone. 3. $government makes a "lawful request" of Verizon et. al. to install keyloggers/screenshotters on your phone. 4. Your "secure" commms are compromised. Signal needs to work on comprehensively rooted devices connected only via wi…

This is why I still don't own a cellphone in 2015.

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#129

Post by anonbanker »

verusfossa wrote: post #58

TextSecure used to be on fDroid, then this happened https://f-droid.org/posts/security-notice-textsecure/ . Now it's a GPlay exclusive. I don't have GAPPS so now I can't get it. I'd assume many privacy conscious people don't have GAPPS. I understand the technical hurtles, but it's too big a pill to swallow.

This event spooked me forever against Textsecure. I've seen moxie's reasoning for moving to Gapps, but I don't know if I (or the the unix world) agree with it. If I had a gun pointed at my head, this tactic (making an insane choice that boils down to "it's encrypted. what could possibly go wrong?") would be my canary of choice. I'd probably mix in some Lennart Poettering, "it's the future, get on board," to make it extra-obvious, though.

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#130

Post by anonbanker »

redwards510 wrote: post #128

Wow, tough room! So much negativity. Whisper Systems, thanks for making encryption simple enough that my Mom can use it, and open enough that I can trust it. That is the success story here.

I can't wait to see the number of pull requests to their repositories for all the bugs/features people are demanding!
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