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Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

signal.org

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Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#61

Post by izacus »

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.

Almost every time I start it after a few days it just purges all my conversations, demands I relink my phone and then doesn't show any conversation history.

It's hard to call it useful when it's so unreliable and broken.

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#62

Post by gravitas »

yuvadam wrote: post #11
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

I find it odd that packaging for a specific distro is an upstream effort. I never understood why upstream source should include Debian/Fedora-specific files. The way that Arch Linux approaches packaging makes much more sense to me - a single bash-like PKGBUILD file that describes how the upstream source should be transformed into a package that the distro knows how to deal with.

Arch PKGBUILD packaging is basically identical in design to RPM packaging, and can contain more than just s single build script (patches, pre/post scriplets in another file, etc.). Arch packaging feels familiar and "normal" if you're coming from any RPM based distro, including the SUSE family.

It is the DEB format which is generally unlike most others in architecture and design, you cannot toss "Fedora/Ubuntu" into the phrase and be honest, they are quite different and have different design goals.

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#63

Post by AsyncAwait »

simias wrote: post #53
harry8 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 res…

> Telegram also has an electron desktop app

Telegram Desktop is a Qt app. Not that it offers E2E so not really comparable to Signal imo.

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#65

Post by Andrex »

input_sh wrote: post #55
gopkarthik wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Depends how friendly the administration is to encryption. A lot has happened since March 2017.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/27/trump-officials-we...

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/10/urgent-earn-it-act-int...

http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2020/06/there%E2%80%99s-no...

The US and cryptography have never really gotten along.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_Wars

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#67

Post by everdrive »

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 I wasn't aware of. It would be quite nice, if true.

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#68

Post by zorbash »

blub wrote: post #56

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

Second that. I hear back my own voice, it drains the battery and the connection is almost always choppy.

I wanted to be able to use Signal to replace whatsapp, telegram and FB messenger. I've convinced some of my friends to install it, but none of them are happy with it.

On both mobile and desktop sometimes messages take hours to appear and on mobile it reserves ~2GB of storage for no apparent reason.

I trust that people behind Signal are brilliant got the security right, but the UX is simply not there yet.

Re: Adding Encrypted Group Calls to Signal

#69

Post by simias »

AsyncAwait wrote: post #63
simias wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 res…

> Telegram also has an electron desktop app Telegram Desktop is a Qt app. Not that it offers E2E so not really comparable to Signal imo.

Oh indeed it is! It looks very electrony so I just assumed that it was. That might be why it actually works decently.
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