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Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

signal.org

311–320 of 417 posts

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am honestly not trolling here although it will sound like it: Can someone please explain to me why it's a OK to reconnect Iranians to Signal, but not Trump supporters to Twitter (the ones censored and banned by Twitter)?

Because Signal didn't block Iran? This is false equivalence.

[deleted]

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#312
post #307
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could literally have a hidden function in WhatsApp that scoops up all your chat history and sends it to Facebook if the government ask them to. It’s closed source. No one has a clue what it’s doing. To be clear I’m not suggesting this is absolutely happening. I’m merely pointing out it’s entirely possible from a technological perspective given it’s closed source software owned by Facebook. That’s not a recipe fo…

The same is true of Signal in most practical ways. You can only run it on platforms that are fundamentally closed-source (either iOS or Google Play Services), so there's no reason to believe the RNGs it uses (and therefore all your session keys) are not backdoored. And you can only install it through official app stores where it's difficult or impossible to inspect what binary you have or "pin" a given version. So I…

The mere fact it hoovers up less metadata alone makes it more private. I also trust the developers more way way more than I trust Facebook. That's a personal preference though and if you trust WhatsApp and don't mind that it leaks contacts and other metadata to Facebook to profile you then use WhatsApp.

If I wanted to I could install a fork of Signal that doesn't require Google Play [1] and run it on any non-Google Android build. I would do if it wasn't for the fact I'm currently using an iPhone.

[1] https://langis.cloudfrancois.fr/

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#313
post #85
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can block these proxies. Thats why in the #IRanASignalProxy section they say to share in more discrete ways if you can.

Which to me is bad. They should run a service like Tor does to get private bridges. I don't know anyone in Iran but I have a server I could use for this. However I know zero people in Iran.

So you use the hashtag on a public tweet etc and say DM me for a proxy.

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#315
post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised that Tor isn't integrated already. Moxie was pushing that at Twitter - a prototype was even built.

These blocks tend to be reactive, so if a blocked app starts using Tor, Iran will block Tor fairly quickly. So in return for a short-lived regain of the use of Signal, all of Tor gets blocked. This proxy arrangement is better because folks who start them tell their friends in Iran, who tell their friends, but it isn't listed publicly, like most Tor entry nodes are. When the authorities find a proxy and block it, they…

Tor bridges work in the same way as this proxy; except Tor operates a centralized way of getting access to them.

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#316
post #143
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point! I wonder why they didn't reverse the scheme, e.g. https://mydomain.example.org/#is-a-signal-proxy

AFAIK you can register URL handlers for a specific domain (signal.tube), but not for a specific hash. And you don't want Signal to appear as an alternative browser on every link. Edit: On a second thought, I wonder if a custom scheme would have worked, e.g. signal-proxy://example.com?

If you click on one of the links it is using sgnl://signal.tube/#[domain] to deliver the proxy settings to the Signal app.

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any instructions to build the app yourself for signal?

Yes, they have some docs on GitHub for how to do it: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/wiki/How-to-buil... You can build the iOS version too for development: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS/blob/master/BUILDING... I haven't done it before but you should even be able to deploy that build to your phone in theory: https://codewithchris.com/deploy-your-app-on-an-iphone/ It's unclear to me if there are a…

I spent a few hours trying to get a local build of signal-ios working a few weeks ago, in order to write a PR fix a bug with lost voice messages. The xcode project uses a plethora of device entitlements I'm not allowed to have (since I don't have the proper signal signing key). Even after a couple hours of tweaking to get it building and deployed to my device, its currently crashing on startup because it can't access some special signal local device store.

You can certainly get your own build working (without notifications and other features). But personally I found it prohibitively difficult to do so.

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#318
Wow! This is what I call decentralized internet. Where unless Apple can take down the app from the AppStore (we should fight against the monopoly) Signal is hard to censor.

Unless Iran totally kills its internet to all.

Sure there is the dark side that it could be used to organize crimes and terror, but I think we have to recognize the right to meaningful communication and privacy.

Signal gives me hope on the internet of the future.

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#319

Noob question: Can a Signal proxy be usefully run on a Raspberry Pi (RP4 ModelB 8GB RAM)?

> The proxy is extremely lightweight. An inexpensive and tiny VPS can easily handle hundreds of concurrent users. I would bet yes.

Thanks for the help!

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any instructions to build the app yourself for signal?

Yes, they have some docs on GitHub for how to do it: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/wiki/How-to-buil... You can build the iOS version too for development: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS/blob/master/BUILDING... I haven't done it before but you should even be able to deploy that build to your phone in theory: https://codewithchris.com/deploy-your-app-on-an-iphone/ It's unclear to me if there are a…

I just realized one issue with this is that their latest production branch is private so you would receive delayed updates.
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