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WhatsApp is blocking Telegram links

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Re: WhatsApp is blocking Telegram links

#191

Post by sangnoir »

eveningcoffee wrote: post #183
mikek wrote: post #109

WhatsApp is not linkifying Telegram URLs, but Telegram is not even sending messages that are shared from WhatsApp. Telegram is open source, so you can see for yourself here. https://github.com/DrKLO/Telegram/blob/74def22213846b1f90a26... On line 666: if (sendingText.contains("WhatsApp")) { //who needs this sent from ...? sendingText = null; }

I wish I could flag your message, but maybe you will delete your comment by yourself? Base: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10657981 Edit: tone.

You can flag a post by clicking on its timestamp first > flag

Re: WhatsApp is blocking Telegram links

#192

Post by HappyTypist »

I think this is a good opportunity to plug Signal. Telegram uses a non-standard DIY crypto protocol that already had attacks, its chats are not end to end encrypted by default, and Telegram stores all your messages in the cloud by default while deceptively advertising as a 'private' alternative.

Signal / TextSecure on the other hand is encrypted by default, implements more thoroughly audited cryptography, and is recommended by Edward Snowden and Bruce Schneier.

Re: WhatsApp is blocking Telegram links

#193

Post by seagreen »

prostoalex wrote: post #158
seagreen wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great comment, because it leads in right to the heart of the problem. Why is running a server so hard? This is actually really weird -- the cloud should mean that you can set up a server with a single click. Of course, a Linux VPS needs a fair amount of love (fiddling with settings, updating, and so on). But there are other ways: https://sandstorm.io/

The heart of the problem is not publishing, it's discovery and curation. Grandma is not going to visit 20 dedicated servers for her grandkids picture fix, she needs it accessible in one place. But then how do you safeguard that place from the likes of games notifications and various spammy/fraudulent apps taking over?

> Grandma is not going to visit 20 dedicated servers for her grandkids picture fix, she needs it accessible in one place.

This is certainly a problem. If only there was some kind of . . . mechanism . . . by which her computer could collect photos off her friends servers and display them locally? Sounds almost impossible!

(Sorry for giving you a hard time:-) I appreciate your comment, but think that's a very solvable problem in practice.)

Re: WhatsApp is blocking Telegram links

#195

Post by heitortsergent »

HappyTypist wrote: post #192

I think this is a good opportunity to plug Signal. Telegram uses a non-standard DIY crypto protocol that already had attacks, its chats are not end to end encrypted by default, and Telegram stores all your messages in the cloud by default while deceptively advertising as a 'private' alternative. Signal / TextSecure on the other hand is encrypted by default, implements more thoroughly audited cryptography, and is reco…

Are there any links that show those pieces of information about Telegram?

Re: WhatsApp is blocking Telegram links

#196

Post by funkyy »

rms_returns wrote: post #76
plusquamperfekt wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need a competitor to FB ... sadly options like Diaspora are very problematic b/c you need to either run a server or trust a private person with it.

We have many like Google plus, twitter, linkedin, reddit and even hacker news (catering to a specific niche). Problem here is that too many people whom we may call "less tech savvy" won't leave FB. So, in order to stay "compatible" with them, we need to keep our FB accounts active!

None listed by you come even close to what Facebook offer to majority of users. Linkedin is work environment and people wont go personal there, Twitter is just status update thing that really tries to become something bigger but fail to see what people outside their user base want and Google Plus is a joke - I am to this day surprised that they created it as Facebook killer, not as LinkedIn killer since obviously it is corporate style network, not a place where you go after the work, relax and see funny pictures.

Re: WhatsApp is blocking Telegram links

#197

Post by Lazare »

mikek wrote: post #109

WhatsApp is not linkifying Telegram URLs, but Telegram is not even sending messages that are shared from WhatsApp. Telegram is open source, so you can see for yourself here. https://github.com/DrKLO/Telegram/blob/74def22213846b1f90a26... On line 666: if (sendingText.contains("WhatsApp")) { //who needs this sent from ...? sendingText = null; }

1. Your comment is outright false. Telegram does send messages that are shared from WhatsApp (as is trivially verifiable), and as others have explained the code you linked doesn't do what you claim it does.

2. Given that you're a WhatsApp employee, commenting about Telegram on a thread about how WhatsApp (unfairly?) competes with Telegram, you should probably disclose your affiliation. That would be true even if your comment was accurate, but since it's an outright false claim...

The interesting question here, I think, is whether you're just careless and didn't take the time to double check your claims, or if your comment was actually made in bad faith.

Re: WhatsApp is blocking Telegram links

#198

Post by codeshaman »

chc wrote: post #168
codeshaman wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spaghetti. More suitable for my plate than an app. I know that Java is a terribly verbose language, but even for Java this looks over the top. This code is written with a bulldozer ! How hard is it to refactor each of those branches into separate functions or objects ? If there's no time for that, I wonder, is there enough time to figure out the security and privacy implications of this entire codebase ? Should I tru…

I don't think Telegram is something people who need security should be using, but this kind of stylistic shaming toward open-source projects is useless at best and harmful in most cases.

Maybe I'm wrong, but last time I checked, Telegram is not entirely "open source". The core part of the service is secret. Which kind of voids the whole 'open source' argument and actually makes this whole project doubly sneaky..

Also, open source does not automatically imply high quality or immunity from criticism.

In this particular case, when people can be arrested or even executed for what they say (in some countries), this kind of code can be plain dangerous.

Even if their intentions are absolutely pristine and they really want to do good in the world (which I hope they are) - a bit more diligence about the quality of the stuff you're sharing never hurts.

Re: WhatsApp is blocking Telegram links

#199

Post by shawn-furyan »

mintplant wrote: post #157
plusquamperfekt wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the credibility attributed to Signal - f.x. by Bruce Schneier and Edward Snowden - I don't understand why it's not more popular than Telegram.

No desktop client. There's a Chrome App being worked on, but that's not an ideal setup. I really don't know why they aren't focuing on this, as it's absolutely the #1 issue whenever I talk to someone about Signal. Even the Chrome App packaged in a standalone Electron-like setup would be better. edit: Apparently alpha versions of NW.js now support running Chrome Apps. This could be interesting. https://groups.google.c…

Small team + high security standards = slow development progress

Why a chrome extension and not a desktop app? Because a desktop app is 3 desktop apps if you want to be cross platform, and since it is secure communication software, all of those edge cases that pop up in cross platform desktop application development really matter.

I think it's better that Signal takes its time and gets it right so that eventually we have a good solution. If Signal were to throw caution to the wind and hackathon up some desktop apps, then we may never have a single good option.

Signals competitors don't share it's security standards, and so it's not really reasonable to compare it to its competitors feature for feature. I expect that adding a given feature or other unit of complexity bears a higher cost for Signal than, say Whatsapp or Telegram. In the meantime, we still have the Signal mobile apps for situations where inconvenience isn't an insurmountable barrier.

Re: WhatsApp is blocking Telegram links

#200

Post by [deleted] »

Camillo wrote: post #160
izacus wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is IMO one of the greatest dangers of leaving those huge corporations like Facebook, Google, Amazon etc. unchecked - they're starting to attack competition by leveraging their primary products (Amazon blocking Chromecasts, Facebook censoring links and pages about their lawsuits are two latest cases) and are working deliberately against interests of greater public (and capitalism itself if we can stretch that :)…

You list three companies but only give examples for two.

[deleted]
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