Free, Worldwide, Encrypted Phone Calls for iPhone • Hacker News Board

Re: Free, Worldwide, Encrypted Phone Calls for iPhone

#121

Post by felix » Tue, Jul 29, 2014, 9:17 PM UTC

jmathai wrote: post #35

felix wrote: post #23

Curious why this is different than RedPhone - same company, same product(?), diff't platform - why not keep app branding?

Signal is a much more neutral brand than RedPhone. RedPhone sounds either like an adult network or spying app. At one of the Shuttleworth Foundation gatherings (where all Shuttleworth fellows meet bi-annually) I remember having a conversation about the branding of RedPhone and everyone unanimously agreed that it would hinder wider spread adoption of the software. I'm not sure what all the factors in re-branding were…

Makes sense - do you know if they will be re-branding RedPhone on Android? Just curious.

Re: Free, Worldwide, Encrypted Phone Calls for iPhone

#122

Post by dublinben » Tue, Jul 29, 2014, 9:22 PM UTC

autodidakto wrote: post #117

Please authenticate with something that's not a phone number! I guess that's the simplest for most people (look at WhatsApp), but the reason why I use things like Signal is because I despise cell carriers. I'd like to use this on a (cheaper) non-cellular device (for myself and family members). The Holy Grail of Secure Communications: Group Encrypted Text, Voice, and Video. Right now, Skype gives you the unholy grail,…

To my knowledge, Jitsi fulfills your Holy Grail of Secure Communications requirements. It certainly much more trustworthy than Skype.

Re: Free, Worldwide, Encrypted Phone Calls for iPhone

#123

Post by atmosx » Tue, Jul 29, 2014, 9:24 PM UTC

FredericJ wrote: post #79

Hey, I'm the co-lead developer of Signal. We're looking for help with translations, help us out to bring Signal to as many people as possible: https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/signal-ios/ We also pay per commit if you want to help on Open Whisper Systems projects: http://bithub.whispersystems.org/

I can help with the Greek translation along with StavrosK. Created my account at Transifex today, but have to get some sleep now. Will get in contact tomorrow, if you can create a GR version/repo.

Re: Free, Worldwide, Encrypted Phone Calls for iPhone

#124

Post by halon » Tue, Jul 29, 2014, 9:29 PM UTC

dm2 wrote: post #105

halon wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am also one of the core devs. Actually, none of the Bithub donations go close to being a working wage for any programmer actively working on the repository. We either get paid by grants or are volunteer. Asking us to micromanage Bithub grants for one or two off contributors would only be more work. We went with a "worse is better" strategy with the goal of encouraging people to regularly commit in however they feel…

Fair enough, thank you very much for working on such an awesome and important project. After looking at that specific developers commit history it seems like he does commit a ton all over the place, these were just the last few and immediately drew my attention.

Yes, she is one of our 2 core Web client developers, along with one of the 2 core website maintainers, and does a lot of the docs! I would merge a request with a smiley for Bitcoin for all the work she does.

Re: Free, Worldwide, Encrypted Phone Calls for iPhone

#125

Post by higherpurpose » Tue, Jul 29, 2014, 9:33 PM UTC

Will we eventually get video calling, too? (especially in the browser version, perhaps by using a more secure version of WebRTC?)

Also, I suggest dropping SMS support, and going "data-only" for the new Signal. Or at the very least disable all SMS/MMS stuff by default, and only leave them as opt-in options in settings. Don't even prompt users about it, because most will say yes, without really knowing what they're doing, and that the app will start eating SMS credits without realizing.

But really, you should just drop it. I mean look how successful Whatsapp is, and doesn't have any SMS support, let alone an end-to-end encrypted one.

Re: Free, Worldwide, Encrypted Phone Calls for iPhone

#126

Post by higherpurpose » Tue, Jul 29, 2014, 9:35 PM UTC

Will we eventually get video calling, too? (especially in the browser version, perhaps by using a more secure version of WebRTC?)

Also, I suggest dropping SMS support, and going "data-only" for the new Signal. Or at the very least disable all SMS/MMS stuff by default, and only leave them as opt-in options in settings. Don't even prompt users about it, because most will say yes, without really knowing what they're doing, and that the app will start eating SMS credits without realizing.

But really, you should just drop it. I mean look how successful Whatsapp is, and doesn't have any SMS support, let alone an end-to-end encrypted one.

Re: Free, Worldwide, Encrypted Phone Calls for iPhone

#127

Post by trounce » Tue, Jul 29, 2014, 9:43 PM UTC

As soon as I registered, I started getting "No Caller ID" phone calls every few minutes from some unknown person speaking Chinese (which I don't speak). This is pretty annoying, to say the least.

There doesn't seem to be any way to deregister your phone number? So what now?

Re: Free, Worldwide, Encrypted Phone Calls for iPhone

#128

Post by rdl » Tue, Jul 29, 2014, 9:51 PM UTC

foobarqux wrote: post #109

rdl wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible to do this in a staged way -- basically, give me 100k phone numbers, I'll do automated attacks and catch 25-50k of them (old unpatched OSes for which if I had a $5-10mm budget I'd have 0-days ready, phishing, etc.). Then, use the early victims to catch the rest -- hopefully they're admin assistants, HR people, etc. Targeted attacks on the rest. Black bag jobs on the remainder, using legal or extralegal…

The cost increases dramatically compared to unencrypted comms. Moreover you risk wasting valuable 0-days on targets that may not be worth it.

Plus, risk of alerting the target (which is why targeting hackers is unwise...)

I wasn't arguing against encryption tools, just that serious attackers are plausible threats.

Re: Free, Worldwide, Encrypted Phone Calls for iPhone

#129

Post by frandroid » Tue, Jul 29, 2014, 9:52 PM UTC

stevengg wrote: post #24

david_shaw wrote: post #2

Many people are already familiar with Moxie Marlinspike's WhisperSystems because of their Android apps: RedPhone for encrypted calls, and TextSecure for SMS messages. The release of Signal is a pretty big deal for iOS users; previously, we had to consider a paid option like Silent Circle, or a larger corporate option like FaceTime Audio (which isn't really the same). Although I haven't actually used the app yet (it's…

Moxie also made a sailing documentary that is good called hold fast http://vimeo.com/15351476

OMG I knew the name sounded familiar. This doc is SO GOOD.

Re: Free, Worldwide, Encrypted Phone Calls for iPhone

#130

Post by alt_f4 » Tue, Jul 29, 2014, 10:03 PM UTC

When the client device is compromised (and we know that iOS is [1]), it doesn't matter how secure the link is. If I were a sophisticated attacker and wanted to listen to your conversation, I could just tap your mic and audio output.

[1] https://pentest.com/ios_backdoors_attack_points_surveillance...