I convinced quite a lot of my friends to switch to Threema. No phone number required, and really open source ( https://threema.ch/en/faq/source_code )
And no E2EE!
Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support
101–110 of 263 posts
Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support
#102Sounds interesting. Signal already has the roster and all. I'm happy this won't be another app, that no one will use.
I might be able to put off installing the paypal app forever.
Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
WhatsApp payments isn't available yet in all markets, but you can be sure it's coming.
WhatsApps payment feature is only available in India where they implemented the feature in alignment with the Indian UPI initiative. Src.: https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/payments/learn-more-about-p... Therefore I'd argue that this specific feature can hardly be seen as waiting for a global rollout.
Payments was also launched in Brasil, and Facebook are on record as saying they want to expand it to more countries.
Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support
#104[deleted]
Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
The act of "sending" a cryptocurrency payment is actually the publication of a cryptographic signature.
Sure, but law and regulation doesn't work that way. It's about the intent, not the technicality. That's e.g. the difference between gross negligence, manslaughter and murder, even if someone died in all these situations.
The (IMHO bogus) argument Schneier was making was that it muddles the morality of the situation, not whether or not it is or isn't, or should or should not be illegal: just that it would invite "meddling" (his word).
Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support
#106I need a secure way to control my smart home, please integrate everything that is needed!
Oh and i need a secure key for my car.
If you had time, i need password manager within my messenger too.
A secure todo list would be great.
Not everything you can include into ONE app should be included.
Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Signal doesn't--and can't--somehow magically prevent people from backing up their messages insecurely. That they don't support being backed up by normal backup methods on iOS--including highly-secure ones--is a missing feature (and a devastating one at that: people expect to have access to their old messages) more than a security measure. Consider this: the existence of a popular tool that helps people back up their…
If that tool shipped as part of iOS, were on by default, and silently sent the full message history plaintext to Apple (such as if Apple iCloud Backup stopped respecting the storage class of apps and just backed up EVERY FILE), I think it would be fair to call that a backdoor (in iOS).
What if iCloud Backup started including in the backup a snapshot of device RAM? I think we are splitting hairs here.
The desire of users for message history in backups is entirely orthogonal to whether or not iCloud Backup is a cryptographic backdoor, in the traditional "plaintext escrow" sense. Indeed, the FBI would not have torpedoed Apple's e2e encrypted device backup system if not.
Really it boils down to the fact that it's on by default and the users were never asked to consent to their full chat history being transmitted to Apple effectively in the clear. I imagine most users are unaware of the fact that the FBI has warrantless access to every iMessage they have ever sent or received.
Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support
#108>I see no good reason to do this. Secure communications and secure transactions can be separate apps,
The reason is pretty clear. Transactions require two parties to both be using the app. If you spin out a separate app, then most people won't have it installed nor be able to use it, and therefore won't be able to transact with it. This leads to a chicken and egg problem: if no one is using the app, then there's no point downloading and becoming familiar with it. By integrating with an existing, popular app in an adjacent space (messaging apps traditionally enable payments as well), they avoid this bootstrapping problem.
That said, it seems quite dumb to pick a premined currency to enable all this. That will inevitably raise questions about who stands to gain from the success of the system. Someone should come up with a way to make cryptocurrencies that are worthless for speculators, and only good for paying for things. Then, any new crypto project would have an easy way to avoid accusations of being a pump-and-dump.
Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support
#10999% of the opposition to Signal integrating cryptocurrency payment seems to be from people who generally disagree with the idea of cryptocurrencies (the article has this position). These arguments of course are veiled as keeping the Signal app "pure" and focused on encrypted messaging. I've rarely seen people kick up this kind of fuss with other messaging features so it just reeks of being disingenuous.
At least be honest and just say that you disagree with cryptocurrencies, instead of dancing around it with other strange arguments / conspiracies about government attention.
Re: Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support
#110I 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 (lik…
Don’t forget that any time you send or receive payments in this cryptocurrency, you would have to track either the basis (when receiving) or capital gain/loss (when sending) assuming this ever comes to the US. It’s a mess.