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Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal

nytimes.com

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Re: Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal

#221

Post by lima »

hackuser wrote: post #216
at612 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wondering, but why not just use XMPP? You can choose any server that you like or trust, or run your own (on your own or third party infrastructure, up to you), and use OTR for end-to-end encryption if you feel you need to¹. I have been using XMPP since 2000/2001. My current address is nine years old (and I control the server). I have a choice of clients on every platform that I use. All my contacts have the same…

Is OTR really a practical option? You message seems unclear about it. Also, how do you get all your contacts to use XMPP and your server?

Yes, it is.

Convince them :-) Same as with any other.

Re: Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal

#222

Post by rahrahrah »

mtgx wrote: post #89
rahrahrah wrote: post #66

I still haven't been able to register to Signal. It always fails with "error establishing connection with server". Does anyone want to suggest how I could get this working?

I believe it also has a voice call option. Have you tried that?

Yes, the problem is after. Step two is confirming the number (by SMS or phone call). Step three is "generating keys". Step four is registering to the server, and it always fails there.

Re: Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal

#223

Post by rahrahrah »

jgroszko wrote: post #97
rahrahrah wrote: post #66

I still haven't been able to register to Signal. It always fails with "error establishing connection with server". Does anyone want to suggest how I could get this working?

I had this issue as well until I cleared the data/cache for my Google Play services app.

Yes, I've seen people mention this. Unfortunately that didn't work for me.

Re: Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal

#224

Post by pYQAJ6Zm »

tim333 wrote: post #130
james_pm wrote: post #88

I continue to be disappointed by headlines like, "Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal" which implies that only some people should be worried about privacy. You'd think that the revelations about the NSA, things like the UK law that requires ISPs to collect and store your Internet browsing history would have more people "worried" but yet it's still pretty much a lost cause to try to explain to…

My messages are pretty dull. I'm not at all worried about their privacy.

Perhaps in the future an authoritarian government will single you out, together with others, for being politically “neutral” and thus fit for taking part in some kind of “neutral” policy enforcement corps.

Rare possibility? Yes. But it’s a possibility. «Nothing to hide, nothing to fear» arguments cannot stand before this sort of scrutiny.

Re: Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal

#225

Post by antocv »

kscz wrote: post #173
cyberpunk wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure there are many ways to make things harder when the complexity of the systems we have even in our pockets make them so very hard/impossible to even observe let alone protect. There are too many places, even on a phone, where anything at all can be hiding and we don't really have any way of ever knowing what's there without stepping through the binaries.. That's even more difficult when we've got dalvik an…

You're right, anything can be monitored, but we shouldn't take that as a reason that we should lay down and accept it. You should assume that any sufficiently motivated person/organization/state can get access to your information. But what we should absolutely do is make sure that state actors and companies have to demonstrate that they are motivated to take that information. That they have to devote resources to get…

Indeed, another cost-increase on NSA and other evil enterprises invoice, is to misinform/disinform, let them monitor what is useless, waste resources finding the needle in the haystack.

Basically we are in Intelligence vs Counter Intelligence game with the state.

You suspect your phone or device is listening? I know that Facebook is listening/monitoring, so I let it hear. Yes, I did go to school in Zimbabwe and have my Zimbabwian friends confirm it, and I did visit it look the GPS data in the pictures show it.

The data that facebook has about me is worthless shit in disguise as marvelous worthy data, but they do sell it well, if everyone did this, it would be obvious their data is not worth the ads they sell, facebook would crumble like a stomped on paper plane.

Re: Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal

#226

Post by antocv »

arglebarnacle wrote: post #69
antocv wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only tag, but also get their identity and possibly use backdoors, because Signal is only on Google Play, which in order to access it requires a gazillion identifying data. Signal is a joke if your adversary is NSA and its likes. You cant run Signal unless you give up who you are, and that you are using it, and its not very difficult to analyze _when_ you receiveor send a message due to the Signal requiring google…

Most people only have the NSA as an adversary in the minimal sense that they're caught up in a very broad mass surveillance net. It's true that if you're a whistleblower with sensitive government information Signal is not a complete solution for you. But who cares? Almost nobody is in that situation, and people in that situation have access to other tools that actually do help. Your last sentence is extremely unfair…

LOL, its not better than WhatsApp, that is my point.

In fact, its worse than cleartext SMS, when you use Signal you are a target, when you use cleartext SMS, you can still hide among the noise.

Re: Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal

#227

Post by antocv »

Forbo wrote: post #87
antocv wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only tag, but also get their identity and possibly use backdoors, because Signal is only on Google Play, which in order to access it requires a gazillion identifying data. Signal is a joke if your adversary is NSA and its likes. You cant run Signal unless you give up who you are, and that you are using it, and its not very difficult to analyze _when_ you receiveor send a message due to the Signal requiring google…

Not everyone's threat model is nation-state adversaries. Often times it is simple theft, coercion, snooping friends/family, etc. What messaging system would your recommend instead? Riot? Tox? Last I checked, neither were nearly as polished and feature-complete as Signal. In my use case, unless it is good enough to become a daily driver, many people won't even bother with it. What good is a messaging system that nobod…

Use what the masses are using, anonymity is being in a large enough group and not distinguished enough from the rest.

Telegram, cleartext SMS, email.

Normal people do not send anonymous or secure messages, but if you need and want to, then you cant just install an app and be done with it, you have to first find and install I2P which is not traceable to you (good luck, first get a degree in information security and become Linux guru), then join an I2P only IRC channel and begin messaging with your group of people about plan to watch football and drink beer, after you had the secret communication with bitmessage over I2P.

Re: Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal

#228

Post by at612 »

whybroke wrote: post #220
at612 wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The suggestion that the motivation for this article is profit for the NYT or Moxie is quite destructive. No, that's literally how it works. Media need to sell copy (clicks these days) and companies need to get coverage. And that's perfectly OK if companies are acting ethically and journalists and editors are doing due diligence. The person that you mention has good connections in the media and uses them to self-pro…

>...tat he sells... It's free. And normally one would associate such vehement and repetitive insistence on counter-factuals with trolling

> It's free.

You misunderstand. He is running a company, what do you think their exit strategy is? You may want to look at his previous company and "red phone", I think was his product called.

> And normally one would associate such vehement and repetitive insistence on counter-factuals with trolling

I am sorry that you do not like to hear this.

Re: Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal

#229

Post by dTal »

_b8r0 wrote: post #14

All the privacy solutions on the market are varying degrees of bad (from a privacy/security/freedom perspective), by which I mean they're all flawed in their own ways. Signal requires Google Play Services on Android. That means it's put simply not a privacy messenger. Yes there's crypto, but it's also tied into Whisper Systems' infrastructure, there's no federation. I use Signal reluctantly, and only on IOS. Threema,…

I don't know why SilenceIM isn't more popular. It's a fork of Signal's now-discontinued SMS encryption. Usernames are still telephone numbers (because SMS) and metadata is still leaked (to telcos, because SMS) but there's no reliance on any centralised servers or organisations, no requirement for Play services, and delivery is as reliable as regular SMS.

I don't know the real reason for Signal getting rid of SMS encryption but it's the only feature I'm interested in. I can get glorified internet messaging anywhere, but OTR encryption over SMS is a difficult problem due to the inability to conduct handshakes. We should not throw this work away.

Re: Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal

#230

Post by at612 »

hackuser wrote: post #216
at612 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wondering, but why not just use XMPP? You can choose any server that you like or trust, or run your own (on your own or third party infrastructure, up to you), and use OTR for end-to-end encryption if you feel you need to¹. I have been using XMPP since 2000/2001. My current address is nine years old (and I control the server). I have a choice of clients on every platform that I use. All my contacts have the same…

Is OTR really a practical option? You message seems unclear about it. Also, how do you get all your contacts to use XMPP and your server?

> Is OTR really a practical option? You message seems unclear about it.

It depends on your threat model, like other alternatives.

I have never initiated an OTR session myself, but I have received one from a contact in anger (whistleblowing).

> Also, how do you get all your contacts to use XMPP

In my case, I have been using XMPP for the last sixteen years, so my contacts have "grown organically", to use an en vogue marketing term.

It appears that Mac computers come with an XMPP client preinstalled (and possibly pre-configured?) Linux, the same. Android, there are a number of clients available. Windows, I think there is Gajim, ...

As far as a stereotypical common user is concerned, they are quite happy to install whatever applications their peers are using, which is how they end up with so much cruft on their computers, phones, etc. :-)

> and your server?

Nobody needs to use my server. It is like email, you can use whichever provider you like.

I hope this answers your questions!

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