11–20 of 38 posts
I'm curious why Whisper Systems aren't allowing registration with just a handle instead of tying accounts to a PSTN number. Telegram already allows this.
> Telegram already allows this. No it doesn't. You can have a handle, but only after verifying a number first.
Check out Threema for a secure alternative that doesn't require a phone number: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threema
The question with anonymity and data securing always is - "who do you want to protect against?"
No matter how you set up Signal it's not going to help you against intelligence agencies - they'll just hack into your Android or use the available backdoors in your I- or Windows Phone.
Signal is very good (the best?) to encrypt your messages and to sabotage mass surveillance which aims at content analysis. Also not any random bored Data Scientist at WhatsApp will be able to read your stuff.
Controlling your meta-data is absolutely impossible with your day-to-day-smartphone anyway. You'd have to use stolen phones and SIM cards.
In my opinion it ALL comes down to establishing online best practices to keep suspicion-independent mass surveillance at bay. The rest is politics - if your police is super corrupt - they'll just break your fingers until you give them access to what they want.
This is stupid. Wants to be anonymous, uses Google. Google records your calls, the number of times you access their service, the messages, the IP address you are using and happily shares this information with your favorite government information service. Wake up. If you are not paying for the service from Google, YOU are the service..
This is stupid. Wants to be anonymous, uses Google. Google records your calls, the number of times you access their service, the messages, the IP address you are using and happily shares this information with your favorite government information service. Wake up. If you are not paying for the service from Google, YOU are the service..
The point is creating a new network identity that is not connected to your public identity, and let Google etc track it all they want. So it's pseudonymous more than anonymous.
I think, that it's not that anonymous. Weak spots: 1. I wouldn't recommend buying used devices, you don't know what has been done with the device, what's running there, even if you reflash it from scratch. Try to buy somehow (anonymously) device in still original and sealed packaging. 2. One would need to first install modified AOSP/CyanogenMod with patched core libraries/apps/services to return fake/random values fo…
2.Installing a ROM without the normal Google apps is something that is beneficial for this application.
3. in all the android phones i have taken apart the various antennas are easy to identify and remove. they are part of the back shell and can be peeled off or are sitting on their own little module that can be left out of the phone.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The point is creating a new network identity that is not connected to your public identity, and let Google etc track it all they want. So it's pseudonymous more than anonymous.
They'll still track you by correlating your Signal meta-data with that resulting from your usage of other Google services where you are "onymous".
Edit: quote from the guide: "11. Only use this device for Signal (and maybe Google Authenticator, see #13) from now on to minimize its exposure."
'Randomly' taking a bus you never take to a city you've never been to and never go to again just to buy a phone, sit in a coffee shop for 5 minutes, and go home, sounds like a good way to make someone pay attention to what you're doing.
And if you think that's too much paranoia, I'm pointing it out because number 8 on this list says 'never use the phone from a place you routinely go', which feels like it's on a similar level.
I don't see the problem to begin with. The question with anonymity and data securing always is - " who do you want to protect against?" No matter how you set up Signal it's not going to help you against intelligence agencies - they'll just hack into your Android or use the available backdoors in your I- or Windows Phone. Signal is very good (the best?) to encrypt your messages and to sabotage mass surveillance which…
Pretend there's a phone on my desk now that was bought by someone else via ebay and reflashed to cyanogenmod. There actually was, its owner forgot it while visiting, but you can pretend that you're a powerful snooping government and that's my secret phone that you want to hack. Not registered in my name, not purchased by me, maybe there's not even a SIM card in the phone. How do you go about "just hacking into" that phone or using the "available backdoors"?