Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

politico.eu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 289 posts

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#21

Post by tyfon »

pilif wrote: post #3
teekert wrote: post #2

But what should I use if I am a politician and fundamentally believe that the government should be able to read my communications?

Does such a person exist? And if so, then just do all your communication using existing means like email and blogs.

Personally I believe that if you become an elected representative of the public you should become a public person where all your in-person meetings and all your phone calls and messages are public for the period you are elected. If you meet someone without disclosing it, it should be a criminal offence.

I know this will never happen in real life but I think this is the only way to solve the problem of corrupt officials and revolving doors / lobbyist problems.

Edit: the book "Haze" by L.E. Modesitt Jr. has a good take on this.

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#23

Post by DyslexicAtheist »

nico_h wrote: post #18
akie wrote: post #7

As an EU citizen I think that's a great decision.

Is there no open source or European alternative? Just keep relying on some Californian dude that insist i give him my and my friends phone numbers? And harass me so i give him more info to “personalize my profile” !?

wire: https://github.com/wireapp

session (very bleeding-edge p2p signal fork) https://github.com/Loki-project / https://getsession.org/

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#24

Post by hans_castorp »

akie wrote: post #7

As an EU citizen I think that's a great decision.

I don't think so.

Signal might be open source but the servers are still run in the USA and thus are subject to the US "legal system" (which in turn is subject to the mood of its president).

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#25

Post by icebraining »

nico_h wrote: post #18
akie wrote: post #7

As an EU citizen I think that's a great decision.

Is there no open source or European alternative? Just keep relying on some Californian dude that insist i give him my and my friends phone numbers? And harass me so i give him more info to “personalize my profile” !?

How does he harass you?!

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#26

Post by stingraycharles »

nico_h wrote: post #18
akie wrote: post #7

As an EU citizen I think that's a great decision.

Is there no open source or European alternative? Just keep relying on some Californian dude that insist i give him my and my friends phone numbers? And harass me so i give him more info to “personalize my profile” !?

This is the “perfect solution fallacy”; just because Signal doesn’t check all the boxes, doesn’t mean it isn’t an improvement over the existing situation. Secure communications is the immediate goal, nation sovereignty secondary.

Looking at the other comments, the European alternatives don’t look very secure, so it looks like they prioritized security here.

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#27

Post by Erlich_Bachman »

nico_h wrote: post #18
akie wrote: post #7

As an EU citizen I think that's a great decision.

Is there no open source or European alternative? Just keep relying on some Californian dude that insist i give him my and my friends phone numbers? And harass me so i give him more info to “personalize my profile” !?

wire.com is a good option. Open source, chats, calls, video calls, web app, phone app, etc.

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#28

Post by jariel »

The EU budget is 148 Billion Euros. Surely, if they have a requirement for a secure communication app, they have the wherewithal to build one for their needs, that EU citizens and others could then use if they so chose? Essential knowledge is definitely public.

This is not about 'Signal' it's about why governments can't/won't deliver on so many issues they themselves deem to be very materially important to them, particularly in the area of IT.

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#29

Post by cpbotha »

hans_castorp wrote: post #24
akie wrote: post #7

As an EU citizen I think that's a great decision.

I don't think so. Signal might be open source but the servers are still run in the USA and thus are subject to the US "legal system" (which in turn is subject to the mood of its president).

Signal servers only know who talked to whom, but otherwise are physically not able to see even a smattering of the contents of the communication.

Correction: The signal servers don't even have that bit of metadata. See [1], they only store the last time that a user connected to the server.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_(software)#Servers

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#30

Post by 101404 »

deugtniet wrote: post #16
Zenst wrote: post #11

I'm supprised they have not developed their own or at least, bankrolled the development of one via grants. Though it would be good if there was an open source communications platform that would allow the public to engage with politicians in a formal and constructive way. Alas, so much disparity in solutions that it often irks me. https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/projects Be great if the interface was bet…

France developed their own matrix protocol based network called tchap. Great idea for a nation that wants to stay independent in an increasingly american/chinese tech dependent world.

When the government in Germany does IT projects, they usually burn millions of Euros even for simple projects. And then, years after the planned rollout, the project is still unfinished and no politician wants to touch it anymore.

My favorites was the "special email inbox for lawyers".

So, I am somewhat hesitant to let the EU develop a chat client.

Post reply on HN