171–180 of 367 posts
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Yeah, if you're ever asked why you're on Signal, just say you wanted to stay in touch with a programmer friend who's not on Facebook/WhatsApp, and they suggested Signal (that is now literally true as well - I suggest you try Signal, friend)
Couldn't you just say "I really like the user interface." Or "The logo looks cool." Or "It had 4 stars." Of "It had lots of good reviews."
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That doesn't change the fact that all phone numbers are visible to all group members. All it takes is one rogue participant to reveal the identities of all members. If that actor has access to triangulation data they now have identity, location history, words and possibly images/video.
I'm sure this is an underrated part of why discord became such a big thing in gaming communities. With so many toxic players and threats against a person so common, a good threat model would care a lot less about surveillance and a lot more about everyone seeing your phone number
You don’t need half as much identification to get stabbed by a weirdo...
The biggest drawback with Signal for protesters is that it exposes the user's phone number to everyone else in groups (just like WhatsApp does). There is no way to even hide the fact that you have an account on Signal. I can add phone numbers by enumeration into my contacts and Signal will show who among my contacts is on it. If the authorities don't use tactics like they did in Hong Kong, the protesters may be safe…
Signal is not only used by protesters[0][1] so discovering that a phone number is connected to a Signal account by no means implies that the phone is used by a protester. [0]: https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2020/01/23/deploye... [1]: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/17/tories-swit...
Here's a description of how it worked in Telegram before they added a setting to disable it last year: https://medium.com/adamant-im/telegrams-anonymity-hole-how-t...
Long-time Signal user but I'm on the verge of moving I think. There are several UX shortcomings but the new PIN nag is a bridge too far. What are my options for alternatives? I imagine Telegram is the next best bet but very open to suggestions.
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In my opinion Desktop Clients > Browser Clients when it comes to messengers. If you have more than ten tabs open it is annoying to always have to switch tabs or break out a window. Having a desktop application that remembers where you want to save stuff people send you is a plus too.
My opinion is the opposite, because Electron is quite heavy (which is an issue for Signal Desktop at least), and because you can't use browser containers to use multiple accounts.
There's one big drawback though that's relevant here, and that is that it doesn't support E2E encrypted chats, those are confined to the phone app. I guess it's a security feature, I haven't looked into it too much, but I don't think it would be that difficult to share keys locally between devices you own.
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In my opinion Desktop Clients > Browser Clients when it comes to messengers. If you have more than ten tabs open it is annoying to always have to switch tabs or break out a window. Having a desktop application that remembers where you want to save stuff people send you is a plus too.
My opinion is the opposite, because Electron is quite heavy (which is an issue for Signal Desktop at least), and because you can't use browser containers to use multiple accounts.
Obviously that'd be better to have a configurable data folder.
Honest question for those in the know: If I wanted to run my own personal “analysis” to verify the security of Signal, where would I start? Is it even possible? Just curious if there was a way to “know” rather than “trust”.
Related question, is there an endorsement from a recognised expert? I'd have to live with that since I won't be getting an advanced degree in cryptography.
tptacek regularly endorses Signal (compared with alternatives) on HN.
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Is Telegram at all trustworthy? I feel like I’ve repeatedly seen on HN that they’re not a good choice for secure messaging (though I don’t remember the specifics around it). Signal and Matrix are the two options I’ve settled on. [Edit]: Looks like the main issues with Telegram are that it doesn't use end to end encryption by default and that they rolled their own encryption protocol that's likely not secure. They als…
Telegram's homegrown crypto has been dismissed by many people (including experts). But it offers privacy features that some other messengers do not. Is Signal trustworthy considering that it exposes your phone number to everyone else in groups? With Telegram it's possible to communicate with anyone without revealing your phone number or profile picture or anything else.
Only the expert's opinions are of any value IMO, and I've never seen anyone showing an attack on Telegram's encryption. Telegram themselves seem to claim that it's never broken. I often see vague criticism over the fact that they use their own protocol, but never anything more detailed than that.
https://core.telegram.org/techfaq#q-i-39m-a-security-expert-...
Long-time Signal user but I'm on the verge of moving I think. There are several UX shortcomings but the new PIN nag is a bridge too far. What are my options for alternatives? I imagine Telegram is the next best bet but very open to suggestions.
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The Signal app experience leaves a lot to be desired compared to Telegram or Matrix.
Telegram is THE standard in messaging apps. It's basically flawless. It's extremely fast, and it works every single time. Notifications are rock solid on every platform, it doesn't hog your battery and it feels fluid to use. Signal, Wickr, WhatsApp and others do not have this experience. They all have drawbacks and do not feel Telegram fast.