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Signal on Android: Images sent to wrong contacts

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Re: Signal on Android: Images sent to wrong contacts

#41
post #37

Several years ago I had this same issue occur in Facebook Messenger. I was using a pretty slow outdated device even for the time. I went to take a picture to send with the in-app camera. I actually pressed send before the picture rendered on my screen and somehow what was sent was not the picture I took, but a picture of some man's forehead who neither of us had ever seen before. It seemed like a pretty huge bug that…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27951529 appears to be the same bug.

Re: Signal on Android: Images sent to wrong contacts

#42

Signal has been adding lots of silly social media like features lately, not surprising that they are messing up the core value prop. I’m shopping for a new encrypted messenger. They used to say every program expands in scope until it can read email, now every app expands until you can add Snapchat filters to your selfies.

Wouldn't XMPP fit the bill?

Re: Signal on Android: Images sent to wrong contacts

#43
post #38
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be the case if they’d standardize the signal protocol. Letting third parties connect has nothing to do with that. Signal can still change their API any time they want.

And Microsoft could in principle choose to do a hard break with all backwards compatibility in the next version of Windows. But they won't. Eventually, the third-party base may be so large and varied, that it becomes quite painful to actually make such a change even if the letter of the law says you can.

In which world does Microsoft conform to open standards or protocols?

Your point simply doesn't make sense.

Re: Signal on Android: Images sent to wrong contacts

#44

While I suppose the protocol is not at fault and it's a UI and client bug it's still a huge problem. Just today I was thinking ”it's been weeks since they moved the GIF button to a different place but there's still the old button at the old place and when you click on it there's a pop-up "wrong, the button is somewhere else now"”. Why even keep the old button in the old place ? And it led me to thinking "what else co…

This underscores why it’s important to allow third party clients to connect. When only the first-party client is allowed, the failings of its UI drag down the core, too — it doesn’t matter how good the core is if it’s permanently mated to a half-baked UI.

I'd go further than this.

It underscores why open standards and protocols are essential for a more secure world.

Re: Signal on Android: Images sent to wrong contacts

#45

Signal has been adding lots of silly social media like features lately, not surprising that they are messing up the core value prop. I’m shopping for a new encrypted messenger. They used to say every program expands in scope until it can read email, now every app expands until you can add Snapchat filters to your selfies.

Matrix, in non-federated mode, is by far the toughest messaging protocol to crack.

Still dependent on proper UI engineering, like Signal failed to do.

Re: Signal on Android: Images sent to wrong contacts

#46
post #33

Signal has been adding lots of silly social media like features lately, not surprising that they are messing up the core value prop. I’m shopping for a new encrypted messenger. They used to say every program expands in scope until it can read email, now every app expands until you can add Snapchat filters to your selfies.

I use delta-chat (chat over imap) and it’s fantastic. Decentralized / federated e2e chat, running on the Internet’s most well-known, resilient, universally supported, self-hostable infrastructure: email.

[deleted]

Re: Signal on Android: Images sent to wrong contacts

#47
post #10

> [..] his Signal randomly sending images to me that he didn't intend to, even without initiating the addition of any attachments on the GUI... he even sees one of my messages displayed on his side with a random image attached to it, as if i have sent that image to him, even though that image is not even present on my phone. https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/10247#iss... Yikes. > [..] I've also recen…

> I've also recently had a probably unrelated issue where my mic was still audible to the other party after I hung up the call. That one there is a cataclysmic security land mine. Absolutely unacceptable. That was the last straw after [0]. I don't think I can recommend Signal at this time. To Downvoters: So these bugs are all fine then? They are not security issues then? Not only having images being sent to the wrong…

Why on Earth are people downvoting you? This is an absolute dealbreaker for any messaging app, much less one whose raison d'etre is privacy and secure messaging.

Re: Signal on Android: Images sent to wrong contacts

#49
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've also recently had a probably unrelated issue where my mic was still audible to the other party after I hung up the call. That one there is a cataclysmic security land mine. Absolutely unacceptable. That was the last straw after [0]. I don't think I can recommend Signal at this time. To Downvoters: So these bugs are all fine then? They are not security issues then? Not only having images being sent to the wrong…

Yes. Signal's only selling point is privacy. Both of these bugs are huge privacy breaches that kill its value proposition. Which type of privacy breach is more likely to have tangible and direct negative effects on an average user's life - a nation state storing their communications in a database, Facebook graphing their contacts and using them for friend recommendations, or their friends/family/boss/acquaintances be…

I agree these bugs that Signal has are serious. With hat said, your examples aren't that great for counters.

"a nation state storing their communications in a database" - The power differential and historic missteps of governments makes this ludicrous to think of as "OK" in comparison.

"Facebook graphing their contacts and using them for friend recommendations" - but, it's not just for friend recommendations and possibly more importantly, it's not just their users, is it? Not to mention it's ignoring the purposeful opinion-biasing they have openly taken part in to manufacture consent for any number of issues.

While these bugs are bad and should be prioritized for fix, they are seemingly random. Sure they can possibly be exploited (possible, haven't seen proof of concept for purposeful exploitation), but random bugging vs clear and present danger on current and historical precedents of governments and technocratic oligarchs? Me thinks your trust may be a bit misplaced or you're just being obtuse for sake of obtuseness.

Re: Signal on Android: Images sent to wrong contacts

#50

> [..] his Signal randomly sending images to me that he didn't intend to, even without initiating the addition of any attachments on the GUI... he even sees one of my messages displayed on his side with a random image attached to it, as if i have sent that image to him, even though that image is not even present on my phone. https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/10247#iss... Yikes. > [..] I've also recen…

The first issue was fixed and just closed, and seems like it was very difficult to track down.
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