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Signal AMA on Reddit

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Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#41

Post by leoplct »

nostromo wrote: post #31

> we've structured the project as a non-profit entity, so it can never be bought, has no investors, and isn't "owned" by anyone Never is a long time. Non-profits can become for-profits. Non-profits can also spin off of their profitable components as for-profits -- just like the Mozilla Corporation is a for-profit owned by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. Non-profits can sell ads and sell your data. And, of course,…

If it will be, we will switch again as done with WhatsApp. What’s problem?

They have invested years giving it for free, now the ask the price (data) and users go away.

Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#42

Post by jelliclesfarm »

jbj wrote: post #17
jelliclesfarm wrote: post #6

I switched to Signal way before. And then Elon Musk recommended Signal to all and sundry on Twitter. And then that got retweeted by Jack Dorsey. Now..I am a little worried. Do I want anything that has Jack’s paw prints on it. Since he and Zuckerberg turned up like creepy ideological twins at the senate hearings, I can’t tell them apart. The first question on the Reddit AMA resonates. WhatsApp was great before FB boug…

One of the points of Signal is that the app is owned by a non profit and not a company. I highly do pressume that it means that it can't be sold to the highest bidder.

A for-profit FAANG cannot own a nonprofit like Signal, yes. I don’t know if it’s a 501c or a 501c3, but I think that’s irrelevannt.

But a for-profit company can select all of the nonprofit’s board members and thereby largely control the nonprofit.

This happens all the time w/conservation groups and environmental non profits and their unholy alliance with real estate mafia.

Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#43

Post by abdullahkhalids »

dyingkneepad wrote: post #2

After installing the phone version, I just tried the Desktop version on Debian. It doesn't work: fails to connect because none of the machines I have (even the Windows one!) is able to trust the digital certificate from https://textsecure-service.whispersystems.org/v1/config . I mean, I could try to add the certificate to the exception list, but when it comes to stuff like Signal I feel I shouldn't be doing any of th…

Download and install from here https://signal.org/download/

I use it on Debian. Works fine.

Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#45

Post by Joeboy »

dyingkneepad wrote: post #8
akvadrako wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you doing? That is a self-signed certificate, so your computer shouldn't trust it. Yet the Desktop apps work fine. Maybe your version of Signal is too old?

I just launched the Dekstop app from their Debian apt repository. It says "Something went wrong! Failed to connect to server." and then the Debug Log contains stuff such as: FetchError: request to https://textsecure-service.whispersystems.org/v1/config failed, reason: unable to verify the first certificate

Bit of a stab in the dark here, but are you sure the repo is enabled and you're getting updates? I just realized I was using an outdated version because Ubuntu disables third party repos when upgrading.

Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#46

Post by raylad »

Is it documented (and provable) what happens when the Signal app is given access to Contacts and then verifies which of them is a Signal user?

It seems that some information would be revealed in that process that could be mined to eventually de-anonymize people based on relationship networks (assuming nothing easier is possible).

Does anyone here know if there's any reason not feel that is a serious vulnerability?

Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#47

Post by Joeboy »

searchableguy wrote: post #12
dyingkneepad wrote: post #2

After installing the phone version, I just tried the Desktop version on Debian. It doesn't work: fails to connect because none of the machines I have (even the Windows one!) is able to trust the digital certificate from https://textsecure-service.whispersystems.org/v1/config . I mean, I could try to add the certificate to the exception list, but when it comes to stuff like Signal I feel I shouldn't be doing any of th…

Could you check the version of signal desktop app? I installed signal desktop app just now. It's 1.139.4 - Do you have the same?

Just upgraded mine and it says v1.39.4. Suspect you might have a spurious 1 in there.

Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#48

Post by SebastianKra »

leoplct wrote: post #41
nostromo wrote: post #31

> we've structured the project as a non-profit entity, so it can never be bought, has no investors, and isn't "owned" by anyone Never is a long time. Non-profits can become for-profits. Non-profits can also spin off of their profitable components as for-profits -- just like the Mozilla Corporation is a for-profit owned by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. Non-profits can sell ads and sell your data. And, of course,…

If it will be, we will switch again as done with WhatsApp. What’s problem? They have invested years giving it for free, now the ask the price (data) and users go away.

WhatsApp proves that switching away from an unfavorable service is not as easy as you think.

It is still essential in many countries, and many users, including myself, are unable to switch.

This is why companies first offer a product for free to gain a user base, and only then think about monetization.

Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#49

Post by bluefox »

Why do Signal releases contain an expiration time bomb?

That is, why is the user forced to update in order to use the application, even if no critical security issues arose?

The passage of time is not a good excuse for a mandatory update.

Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#50

Post by shafyy »

I'm a bit worried that the CEO is so vehemently against federation [0]:

> It is unlikely that we will ever federate with any servers outside of our control again, it makes changes really difficult.

I think as long as there is no federation there will always be the "benevolent dictator" situation, which often doesn't end up well in the long run.

At the same time, I'm sure that I couldn't convince my non-tech friends to switch over to a federated protocol like Matrix. The clients have been getting better, but they still lack a lot of mainstream UX. So, while Signal is better than WhatsApp for now, I think the only sensible solution is a federated protocol.

0: https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37#issueco...

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