111–120 of 301 posts
Signal is a walled garden. They refuse to allow federation and even prohibit any modified client to use their servers. It's the least open "open source" model, and once (if) they gain significant market share they can easily close down the app and lock-in the users. Please use and spread federated alternatives. Donate and contribute.
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I recall reading something recently about how in a coming release, Android will disable sideloading. The sole permitted way to sideload will be to enable ADB and then install the app with adb install. Some techies will continue to do that, just like some people unlock the bootloader and install LineageOS on their device, but removing Signal from the Play Store would make it as good as dead for the general public. (Ev…
Some googling leads to this [1]. From what I read it seems to be an opt-in program (for now). Was initially very concerned when I read your post, especially because Google recently broke Magisk (likely forever). [1]: https://www.xda-developers.com/google-advanced-protection-pl...
Can you give more details on this? I wasn't able to find anything with google-fu except this post, which is surprising.
> how we think about concepts like privacy, security, and trust I was disappointed to see that a mobile number is needed and that this number is shown by default in groups. Mobile numbers are much more trackable then email addresses in my opinion. And I do not understand at all why others should be able to see them so easily. So I now prefer Telegram because at least it hides numbers in groups by default.
As I understand it, the purpose of using telephone numbers is that it can use the contact list stored on your phone without having to store contact lists on their servers. Contact lists can be useful information for an attacker. If Signal doesn't have it, it can't be taken from them.
the only thing that phone numbers help with is discovability of signal users among your existing phone contact list.
that is something i explicitly do not want. ever.
telegram and wechat allow to block being found via phone numbers.
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I don't understand the point you're making, sorry. I agree with you that antifa is not a specific organization.
Well, then what is it besides a term for antifascism? And how was the "is there not a consensus on antifascism" question invalid?
Been a big fan of whisper systems since the redphone project. Great to see them maturing. However, given the topic title it would have been nice to see some actual documentation on how signal actually works rather than just claims that it doesnt work like the others.
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I don't understand the point you're making, sorry. I agree with you that antifa is not a specific organization.
Well, then what is it besides a term for antifascism? And how was the "is there not a consensus on antifascism" question invalid?
> And how was the "is there not a consensus on antifascism" question invalid?
It's not an invalid question, just a leading one.
What happens to Signal when the EARN It Act passes? I assume that eventually the Apple App Store and Google Play Store will just stop allowing it to be downloaded if they do not add the backdoor in? Is there a workaround that will allow people to use it still? I've heard people mention locating the servers in other countries, but wouldn't the various App stores be bound by US law and still not allow them?
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This is like asking if there's no consensus on whether "all lives matter". Or no consensus on being "pro-life". Phrases often have context that mean more than their literal dictionary definition. Edit: The comment I replied to originally asked "There is no consensus on wether being against fascism is good or bad?"
Well, there isn't. "All lives matter" and "pro-life" represent specific political views, but they don't represent any specific groups or organizations. Just like antifa.
The anti-Signal rhetoric has already started. News articles about Antifa specifically mention that they communicate via Signal. If Antifa is designated as a terrorist organization, then we'll see all the counter-terrorism tools brought to bear against them. If the state can't break Signal encryption, then you'll see renewed energy for anti-encryption / anti-privacy policies.
Hard to make it seem like a terrorist tool when the UK Conservative party also loves Signal https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/17/tories-swit...
> how we think about concepts like privacy, security, and trust I was disappointed to see that a mobile number is needed and that this number is shown by default in groups. Mobile numbers are much more trackable then email addresses in my opinion. And I do not understand at all why others should be able to see them so easily. So I now prefer Telegram because at least it hides numbers in groups by default.
Because mobile numbers enable much more easier use than emails. I talk to so many people on WhatsApp who don't even know what an email is, and would certainly never use the app if it couldn't pick their contacts from Contact List. The goal of Signal has always been "privacy for the masses". The experts always had 20 solutions available.
there is a difference between enabling phonenumbers as an ID vs requiring them.
signal could easily support both. (i read somewhere that they plan to support alternatives to phone numbers in the future, just haven't made it a priority. well, i'll wait. edit: actually it's mentioned here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23435050 )