Live data from Hacker News

Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

techcrunch.com

51–60 of 168 posts

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#52
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh. I wish Signal had the UX to compete with Telegram so that people would use Signal instead.

is it that much better?

Yes. Signal has perfect forward secrecy. There's no way any government could compel them to release private chat information: they are literally unable to do so.

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#53
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems to me like it might be WhatsApp that's on a power trip. What would an American judge do if WhatsApp were to ignore a lawful subpoena?

> What would an American judge do if WhatsApp were to ignore a lawful subpoena? Fine WhatsApp. Not compel all telcos to block it...

Contempt of court in the U.S. escalates considerably beyond fines if the company doesn't start complying quickly. The court can jail the company's officers, issue an injunction forcing them to stop doing business, instruct customs to blockade them at the U.S. border (in the case of companies selling physical goods), and a range of other things.

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#54

Telegram reports 1.000.000 new users 4 hours after the block started, 1.500.000 new users 1 hour ago: https://twitter.com/telegram

Ugh. I wish Signal had the UX to compete with Telegram so that people would use Signal instead.

This. When my wife first got an Android phone I installed Signal on there as the default SMS app (she values her privacy and was worried about Google Hangouts). This lasted for almost a day until she tried to send a group text to a few of her friends. When she found out she had to create a named group first, she asked me to install a different messaging app immediately.

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#55
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is it that much better?

Yes. Signal has perfect forward secrecy. There's no way any government could compel them to release private chat information: they are literally unable to do so.

can you explain more?

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#56
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife is a judge and she is not alarmed. She is terrified. We are green card holders and came back to the country 16 years ago. Tonight was the first time we had a conversation about leaving this place for good.

I thought if you leave US for more than 3 (?) months you loose your green card status.

The article is about Brazil. He's probably a Brazilian green card holder.

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#57
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems to me like it might be WhatsApp that's on a power trip. What would an American judge do if WhatsApp were to ignore a lawful subpoena?

> What would an American judge do if WhatsApp were to ignore a lawful subpoena? Fine WhatsApp. Not compel all telcos to block it...

Fine WhatsApp? Really? In Another country, with another set of laws?!

Because you see that where? any US lawers suing let me see.. any russian company?

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#58
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh. I wish Signal had the UX to compete with Telegram so that people would use Signal instead.

is it that much better?

> can you explain more?

Sure, here's how Signal implements forward secrecy in their messaging apps:

https://whispersystems.org/blog/asynchronous-security/

Unlike Telegram, Signal is end-to-end encrypted, which means that Signal themselves cannot read your messages, and therefore could not be compelled to divulge them. Because of forward secrecy, even if recordings of an encrypted exchange are made (and as far as I can tell Signal does not record them), they cannot be later decrypted with a compromised key.

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#59
post #18
post #7

This is insane, this judge must be on a power trip. WhatsApp is now part of Brazilian social life and economy. Everyone here is part of many groups of friends, family or workmates, that is where most instant communication happens. In my company, our deployment engineers, who usually are on very remote places with bad and unreliable internet, rely on WhatsApp. I'm not saying this is the best practice, but this is simp…

Seems to me like it might be WhatsApp that's on a power trip. What would an American judge do if WhatsApp were to ignore a lawful subpoena?

But its not a lawful subpoena.

What's app is a America n company, so it should only respond to American supoenas. Just as a American judge should not be able to order a Brazilian company to do anything before having it go though the Brazilian courts.

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#60

Telegram reports 1.000.000 new users 4 hours after the block started, 1.500.000 new users 1 hour ago: https://twitter.com/telegram

Ugh. I wish Signal had the UX to compete with Telegram so that people would use Signal instead.

I'm really curious. I've been using Signal for years, and it's been much much better than the default app on my phone (not to mention more secure). What's so good about Telegram? I've avoided it because of its suspicious encryption.
Post reply on HN