Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp Outage • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp Outage

#101

Post by mmmmmbop » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 2:11 PM UTC

abernard1 wrote: post #55

rattray wrote: post #48

"But senators, we can't break up these three unrelated services because they all use the same messaging infrastructure!"

I laughed at this because I thought the same thing. Conspiratorial or no, that line of argument won't fly. Saying everything is so integrated that it can't possibly be decentralized is basically proof of monopoly.

It would also be a hilarious argument to make after previously convincing the European Commission in 2014 that there is no technical way to integrate Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp user accounts. [0]

[0] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/pl/IP_17_...

Re: Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp Outage

#102

Post by elcomet » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 2:15 PM UTC

noarchy wrote: post #76

adamcstephens wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Signal needs to up its game. The experience is very far from being as polished as Telegram.

I wish Telegram secret conversations carried over to multiple devices. This is a thing I don't have to worry about with Signal or WhatsApp.

WhatsApp secret conversations don't carry either over multiple devices if you don't activate sync with google drive (which kind of defeats the purpose of encryption anyway).

Re: Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp Outage

#103

Post by abernard1 » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 2:17 PM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #92

abernard1 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I laughed at this because I thought the same thing. Conspiratorial or no, that line of argument won't fly. Saying everything is so integrated that it can't possibly be decentralized is basically proof of monopoly.

> Saying everything is so integrated that it can't possibly be decentralized is basically proof of monopoly. That doesn't make any sense to me. I would expect different applications from the same company to share the same underlying infrastructure. Whether or not they are a monopoly is orthogonal to the issue of integration.

> Whether or not they are a monopoly is orthogonal to the issue of integration.

So, I get you here and what you're saying. But companies at this scale argue they're "independently managed" or whatever.

With that context, for Facebook, there's really no way of saying that these 3 different brands are independent when it comes down to it.

It'd be much like Procter & Gamble saying their 100s of brands were all really different institutional entities.

Re: Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp Outage

#104

Post by fullstop » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 2:21 PM UTC

tapoxi wrote: post #100

mkl95 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Signal is virtually unknown here. Telegram has a small, but growing following. I'm aware that Telegram uses homegrown encryption which is not ideal.

Telegram doesn't use any encryption for groups. It uses encryption only in 1:1 chats when you specifically request it.

The transfer to the server is certainly encrypted. You are referring to end-to-end encryption, I assume.

Re: Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp Outage

#105

Post by l1ghthouse » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 2:23 PM UTC

noarchy wrote: post #76

adamcstephens wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Signal needs to up its game. The experience is very far from being as polished as Telegram.

I wish Telegram secret conversations carried over to multiple devices. This is a thing I don't have to worry about with Signal or WhatsApp.

How iMessage does it: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/security/sec70e68c949/...

Re: Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp Outage

#106

Post by fullstop » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 2:24 PM UTC

adamcstephens wrote: post #64

m-p-3 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes me sad those aren't new Signal users :(

Signal needs to up its game. The experience is very far from being as polished as Telegram.

Is Signal's desktop experience still an electron app?

Re: Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp Outage

#107

Post by bauerd » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 2:26 PM UTC

tsjq wrote: post #86

jbverschoor wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why telegram and not signal?

Coz , if a lot of people use Signal, govts would surely want to peek into the chats

Applies to every messenger

Re: Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp Outage

#108

Post by tapoxi » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 2:27 PM UTC

fullstop wrote: post #104

tapoxi wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telegram doesn't use any encryption for groups. It uses encryption only in 1:1 chats when you specifically request it.

The transfer to the server is certainly encrypted. You are referring to end-to-end encryption, I assume.

Correct, I'm referring to e2e. My personal trust model is not to trust the server.

Re: Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp Outage

#109

Post by marcodave » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 2:29 PM UTC

speeder wrote: post #60

Wanted to see the probably interesting heatmap in downdetector but... downdetector is down :(

we need a downdetector detector !

Re: Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp Outage

#110

Post by fullstop » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 2:36 PM UTC

tapoxi wrote: post #108

fullstop wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The transfer to the server is certainly encrypted. You are referring to end-to-end encryption, I assume.

Correct, I'm referring to e2e. My personal trust model is not to trust the server.

Right, I understand. It's still encrypted, though, just not in a way that you like.