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Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support

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Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support

#51

Post by agd »

FlyingSnake wrote: post #43
agd wrote: post #35

I think there are 3 attitudes towards Signal: 1. Anger from purists who care about the fact it's not decentralised, and that Moxie runs the show, and that it uses phone numbers etc etc... 2. Indifference from those who have never heard of it 3. Joy from those who are extremely happy a decent, private, alternative to Facebook/Whatsapp exists My worry is that group 1) try and ruin it for the rest of us. Signal is liter…

I think this is a strawman argument. Can't it be the users from group#3 who's sad to see Signal turn into WeChat? After all the lessons learned from Keybase are open for all to see. WhatsApp doesn't include payment mechanism in many markets, why is Signal trying to waste developer resources on unwanted features?

WhatsApp payments isn't available yet in all markets, but you can be sure it's coming.

Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support

#52

Post by [deleted] »

gerikson wrote: post #41
agd wrote: post #35

I think there are 3 attitudes towards Signal: 1. Anger from purists who care about the fact it's not decentralised, and that Moxie runs the show, and that it uses phone numbers etc etc... 2. Indifference from those who have never heard of it 3. Joy from those who are extremely happy a decent, private, alternative to Facebook/Whatsapp exists My worry is that group 1) try and ruin it for the rest of us. Signal is liter…

There's no need to implement a payment mechanism via cryptocurrency. Signal can just create a "pro" version and sell that.

[deleted]

Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support

#53

Post by fwn »

agd wrote: post #35

I think there are 3 attitudes towards Signal: 1. Anger from purists who care about the fact it's not decentralised, and that Moxie runs the show, and that it uses phone numbers etc etc... 2. Indifference from those who have never heard of it 3. Joy from those who are extremely happy a decent, private, alternative to Facebook/Whatsapp exists My worry is that group 1) try and ruin it for the rest of us. Signal is liter…

> Signal needs to keep core feature parity to remain competitive with WhatsApp, Telegram etc. And that includes a payment mechanism.

This is thrown around a lot but I have difficulties to see how a wallet for an obscure alt coin might be in any way comparable to your standard payment app for the currency used in your region.

It's not that I can use it to pay in a shop (like I can with Google Pay) or on a website (like with PayPal). ... I can't even repay my friends for paying the round in a bar because it would mean their money is suddenly entangled in this obscure and completely novel network. The money wouldn't end up in their bank account and they could even suffer unpredictable losses.

I therefore think this argument is flawed. There's no upside next to the four payment apps I already have installed and none of my friends would prefer a messenger because it merged with a payment app for an almost unheard cryptocurrency. I would bet my social circle isn't a grave exception in this regard.

Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support

#54

Post by kreetx »

fennecfoxen wrote: post #48
kreetx wrote: post #40

Could somebody elaborate the animosity towards being able to pay in Signal, or and perhaps also the animosity towards Signal itself? I use it, seems like an e2ee and uncluttered messaging app that just works.

With regards to the first, you see, it's an > uncluttered messaging app that just works. Cryptocurrency turns it into a cluttered messaging app, one that gives hackers extra financial incentives to compromise it.

Perhaps there will be a tab for your wallet, and an extra button to pay. Apart from that - you don't need to use the cryptocurrency parts.

Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support

#56

Post by sneak »

api wrote: post #46
sneak wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iCloud Backup backs up plaintext of all iMessages from the device to Apple, with Apple keys (non-e2e). It also includes all SMS. This is documented plainly on Apple's iCloud security overview page. The list of things that are end-to-end encrypted is listed. iCloud Backup is not in it. It's on by default on all iOS devices. Apple was to fix this by end to end encrypting iCloud device backups, and (I understand) even h…

So turn off iCloud backups?

Then your conversation plaintext gets escrowed to Apple via just Bob instead of both Alice and Bob.

(Conversations are backed up twice: once by each party.)

You'd need everyone you talk to to also disable iCloud Backup. This is pretty unlikely.

Easier to just use Signal, where the chat history isn't included in the device backups at all.

Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support

#57

Post by sithadmin »

sneak wrote: post #31
sithadmin wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cryptocurrency != speech; it is not at its core some vehicle for transmission of information, or at least, no more so than conventional currency is. Currency, crypto or not, is no more than a marker of value established by a popular consensus. If any sort of currency supports the transmission of information, it’s a secondary effect where the act of transmitting that information is riding on the coat tails of the mone…

The act of "sending" a cryptocurrency payment is actually the publication of a cryptographic signature.

And the act of 'sending' a conventional fiat payment today is actually the publication of a transaction record in one or more databases. That doesn't mean it's 'speech'.

Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support

#58

Post by fooqux »

gerikson wrote: post #41
agd wrote: post #35

I think there are 3 attitudes towards Signal: 1. Anger from purists who care about the fact it's not decentralised, and that Moxie runs the show, and that it uses phone numbers etc etc... 2. Indifference from those who have never heard of it 3. Joy from those who are extremely happy a decent, private, alternative to Facebook/Whatsapp exists My worry is that group 1) try and ruin it for the rest of us. Signal is liter…

There's no need to implement a payment mechanism via cryptocurrency. Signal can just create a "pro" version and sell that.

You seem to be confusing paying for Signal (there is no way to pay for it, but you can donate to the foundation) and exchanging money with your friends.

Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support

#59

Post by simion314 »

agd wrote: post #35

I think there are 3 attitudes towards Signal: 1. Anger from purists who care about the fact it's not decentralised, and that Moxie runs the show, and that it uses phone numbers etc etc... 2. Indifference from those who have never heard of it 3. Joy from those who are extremely happy a decent, private, alternative to Facebook/Whatsapp exists My worry is that group 1) try and ruin it for the rest of us. Signal is liter…

That seems wrong, is like if Mozilla forces crypto in Firefox. there will be many Firefox users that will not like it, it is not only the haters or Chrome users that will complain, hopefully maybe you can see the missing 4th perspective.

Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support

#60

Post by gerikson »

agd wrote: post #47
gerikson wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no need to implement a payment mechanism via cryptocurrency. Signal can just create a "pro" version and sell that.

AFAIK crypto is the only way to get private and secure payments. Any other payment mechanism wouldn't fit the ethos of Signal.

What I meant was that Signal can solicit payments as part of their mission. Either through donations, or by selling access to more features. There's no need to involve financing through the use of the product itself, any proceeds of which will not go to Signal anyway.
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