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Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

signal.org

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Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#51

Post by solstice »

anewguy9000 wrote: post #4

i want to like signal but the UX is wanting. i installed it today and it only imported some of my sms messages; found almost 1000 open issues on github. then i sent the "get signal" message to a friend who installed it but our messages still kept saying they were insecure sms. turns out we had to "refresh" our contact lists (there is no menu option to do this, you're just supposed to know to pull down on the contacts…

The UI could be improved but it is fine IMO. I'm happy that I have a messenger over which I can talk private stuff and be reasonably sure that no one else can listen in. Everything else is secondary for me.

Contact discovery can have a slight time delay, but so far it has worked very well after a while. (I don't use SMS)

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#52

Post by gopkarthik »

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #7

unless they allow no phone accounts, its a non starter for many. including me. having been persecuted for having whatsapp installed on the phone, (which i personally dont, btw) for an adversary like a police state, whatsapp encryption is somewhat moot. public 'news' groups on whatsapp have admins and they are made to report to the local police station where that malware is installed. then its just a matter of time wa…

Agreed. Though Signal has more utility than WhatsApp thanks to its disappearing messages features.

Technological solutions only go so far when offline restrictions can be imposed. It's entirely likely that once Signal figures out username based registration & sees some traction in, Governments will just ban it.

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#53

Post by simias »

harry8 wrote: post #33
axegon_ wrote: post #3

While Signal is pretty awful on desktop(not to mention this[1] thing), it is my goto messenger on my phone. Brilliant security and props for being one of the very few to extensively use Rust in production. I was really sad to see they hire in the US only. [1] https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/issues/1630

Disagree. Signal on desktop works very well for me and is very useful for quickly sending files from desktop to phone and back, especially when the phone isn't handy.

The desktop app is very useful but it's mainly because there's no alternative. It's bloated, slow, under-featured. Telegram also has an electron desktop app but at least it lets me do ultra-advanced things like changing the spellchecker's language on the fly.

As somebody who's used to 100KB snappy and fully featured IRC clients I'm always baffled when I use these modern clients that use 3 orders of magnitude more resource to look and behave like a cheap clone of a smartphone SMS app, but worse.

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#54

Post by BlueTemplar »

akvadrako wrote: post #45
zaroth wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO this was part of a misinformation campaign against Zoom from several months back. Zoom is not malware and never was malware, although Zoom did so some installer tricks to help computer illiterate users get into meeting more quickly, which coincidentally is their entire value-add. Note I own no shares in Zoom, do not and never have worked for Zoom, and have no financial interest in Zoom.

That's hogwash – Zoom is more difficult to get working for computer newbies than say Jitsi, which doesn't need any weird installer tricks.

Depends which Jitsi...

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#55

Post by input_sh »

gopkarthik wrote: post #52
2Gkashmiri wrote: post #7

unless they allow no phone accounts, its a non starter for many. including me. having been persecuted for having whatsapp installed on the phone, (which i personally dont, btw) for an adversary like a police state, whatsapp encryption is somewhat moot. public 'news' groups on whatsapp have admins and they are made to report to the local police station where that malware is installed. then its just a matter of time wa…

Agreed. Though Signal has more utility than WhatsApp thanks to its disappearing messages features. Technological solutions only go so far when offline restrictions can be imposed. It's entirely likely that once Signal figures out username based registration & sees some traction in, Governments will just ban it.

I mean, I guess it depends on which governments you're talking about, but I don't see that happening in the US or the EU.

> In March 2017, Signal was approved by the Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. Senate for use by senators and their staff. https://www.zdnet.com/article/in-encryption-push-senate-appr...

> The European Commission has told its staff to start using Signal, an end-to-end-encrypted messaging app, in a push to increase the security of its communications. https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-commission-to-staff-switc...

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#57

Post by mesofile »

blub wrote: post #56

Calls are unusable in Signal: they drain a fully charged battery in about half an hour.

I had a successful hour-long video call on Signal recently using my aging iPhone SE (1st gen), which has battery-life issues in general but I made it through without needing to plug in. First time I’d used that feature of the app.

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#58

Post by Vinnl »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #36
fsflover wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except you must have it installed on a spyphone at the same time, which destroys all privacy it has...

There are efforts to get Signal working on the PinePhone and Librem phone through Anbox. Signal also does not require Google Play Services, it can run with completely libre software all the way down. So, Signal is becoming a viable choice on a device that meets Free Software standards and is not a “spyphone”.

I think (but haven't tried myself) that you can nowadays even confirm your number on desktop, i.e. receive a text message on a dumbphone if need be, and then enter the confirmation code on your desktop.

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#60

Post by fsflover »

Vinnl wrote: post #58
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are efforts to get Signal working on the PinePhone and Librem phone through Anbox. Signal also does not require Google Play Services, it can run with completely libre software all the way down. So, Signal is becoming a viable choice on a device that meets Free Software standards and is not a “spyphone”.

I think (but haven't tried myself) that you can nowadays even confirm your number on desktop, i.e. receive a text message on a dumbphone if need be, and then enter the confirmation code on your desktop.

That would be really good if true.
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