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Briar Project

briarproject.org

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Re: Briar Project

#101

Post by new2628 »

suizi wrote: post #93
placebo wrote: post #35

In an authoritarian regime with large masses of human and technological resources determined to have control over its population, nothing is really secure. Sending a message that can't be read by a third party? You're suspect. Have an illegal app installed on your registered "report to big brother" phone? Expect an unfriendly visit by big brother police. Don't have a "big brother" phone? There are various ways of sni…

Authoritarian regimes are often far less technologically advanced than free countries. They will often import technology from free countries and be constrained by whatever freedom respecting decisions they've made.

This is like saying that the weapons advanced countries sell to less advanced countries are more "life-respecting".

Re: Briar Project

#102

Post by sneak »

gorgoiler wrote: post #80
dancemethis wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is, alongside limiting what you can do with their leased equipment that people think they bought.

This made me jump. You make one excellent point, with appropriately shocking language: When I can’t do what I want with my phone, I may as well be leasing it. Hmmm. But I don’t believe Apple’s business model is to spy on me.

Almost every app in the App Store, per Apple's guidelines, has tons of spyware in it. Apple asserts that you agreed to this experience when you accepted the TOS of the App Store.

It's impossible to use an iPhone with any popular apps and not be constantly spied on. Insofar as Apple's business model is to make the (full of spyware) App Store successful, it's Apple's business model to spy on you.

Re: Briar Project

#103

Post by kausban »

dunefox wrote: post #6

I've been looking for secure messengers during the last few weeks. I use WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram. Telegram isn't very secure, WhatsApp is owned by Facebook and even Signal - while very secure - requires a cell phone number... Briar seems great in this regard but isn't available on iPhone and has no support for images, calls, voice messages, etc. Apparently they're going to support images and a desktop client,…

"Wire" is the only one, AFAIK, that ticks all those boxes.

Re: Briar Project

#104

Post by foresto »

michaelsbradley wrote: post #81
foresto wrote: post #74

Earlier this year, I finally took the time to revisit the state of instant messaging services. My requirements: - open source - cross-platform (linux, mac, windows, ios, android) - group chats - end-to-end encryption - well-understood crypto ciphers & protocols - mature enough for a reasonable expectation of security & privacy - easy enough for most computer users - some way to protect metadata (e.g. self-hosting) -…

Did you look into Status? https://status.im/ https://github.com/status-im/status-react https://github.com/status-im/nim-status-client

I didn't, but since you linked to it, I took a peek. I couldn't find any linux, macos, or windows support within a couple minutes of visiting the site, so it fails my "cross-platform" and "easy enough" requirements.

It seems to be married to Ethereum. That's mildly interesting. It raises questions about its relationship to cryptocurrency and blockchain tech, but until it meets my requirements, I'm not inclined to spend time investigating the answers.

Re: Briar Project

#105

Post by ajuc »

placebo wrote: post #35

In an authoritarian regime with large masses of human and technological resources determined to have control over its population, nothing is really secure. Sending a message that can't be read by a third party? You're suspect. Have an illegal app installed on your registered "report to big brother" phone? Expect an unfriendly visit by big brother police. Don't have a "big brother" phone? There are various ways of sni…

Yup. In communist Poland even having a typing machine was a big no-no unless you were a registered writer (because why would you have it if not to make leaflets, and if you're making leaflets you are clearly anti-government).

If you're getting mail from abroad you're already on a list. If you're getting encrypted mail - you'll probably disappear.

Re: Briar Project

#106

Post by divan »

Legogris wrote: post #100
michaelsbradley wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you look into Status? https://status.im/ https://github.com/status-im/status-react https://github.com/status-im/nim-status-client

I've been out of the loop a bit on Status recently; do you know if it's currently utilizing Matrix protocol or if it's on the roadmap? I take their partnership and $5M investment into New Vector in 2018 as an indication of such intentions. Or perhaps they're intending to just bridge Whisper and Matrix. https://matrix.org/blog/2018/01/29/status-partners-up-with-n...

No, that investment was for establishing good relationship. There were no attempts or discussions to marry or bridge protocols.

Re: Briar Project

#108

Post by arnoooooo »

jlokier wrote: post #90
myself248 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can't happen soon enough. I installed Signal a few years ago, and the first thing it did was notify a bunch of people I had in my contacts, that I was now using Signal... ...Including the unstable frenemy-guy who was only in my contacts so I'd recognize the number if he called and I'd know not to answer... ....who immediately PM'd me on Signal to push his latest delusion and make sure I didn't disagree. Great, jus…

I agree. I found that behaviour disgusting, and that's why I avoid Signal. Anyone who says Signal has good privacy is just wrong. When Signal say they have good privacy, that's false advertising. Of course, Telegram does the same thing. I have Telegram installed, and I use it, but it wasn't really a choice. I needed to access a forum which is only on Telegram :/ Unfortunately that meant I had no choice but to have pe…

You might want to read Whatsapp terms of service, in particular the part where they claim copyright and even the right to make derivative works on anything you transmit over their platform.

Re: Briar Project

#109

Post by mpartel »

Legogris wrote: post #97
placebo wrote: post #35

In an authoritarian regime with large masses of human and technological resources determined to have control over its population, nothing is really secure. Sending a message that can't be read by a third party? You're suspect. Have an illegal app installed on your registered "report to big brother" phone? Expect an unfriendly visit by big brother police. Don't have a "big brother" phone? There are various ways of sni…

This is precisely why it's important to make these tools (protocols/applications) part of the core layer of how businesses operate consumer-facing services online; it's only true if the ratio of "interesting" communication over these channels is high enough. In an alternative timeline where ISPs where more strictly regulated and trusted and everything was cleartext HTTP, I'm certain that HTTPS/TLS would face pushback…

Oppressors can (and I think some already do) subvert HTTPS by mandating installation of government-issued certs so they can do their MITM.

Re: Briar Project

#110

Post by Legogris »

divan wrote: post #106
Legogris wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been out of the loop a bit on Status recently; do you know if it's currently utilizing Matrix protocol or if it's on the roadmap? I take their partnership and $5M investment into New Vector in 2018 as an indication of such intentions. Or perhaps they're intending to just bridge Whisper and Matrix. https://matrix.org/blog/2018/01/29/status-partners-up-with-n...

No, that investment was for establishing good relationship. There were no attempts or discussions to marry or bridge protocols.

Huh. They do mention this as "potential obvious advantage" in the post I linked:

> Bridging between Matrix and Whisper (Ethereum's own real-time communication protocol) - exposing all of the Matrix ecosystem into Ethereum and vice versa

But maybe this is just meaningless marketing fluff and something that's effectively left to "the community".

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