Signal is finally copying what Telegram has implemented since long ago? Do people in the West simply do not care about hiding their number (judging by WhatsApp and Signal)?
The mobile number requirement was always a feature of signal. The friction is slight for users, but higher for scammers that might go through thousands of accounts. Telegram is too easy to sign up, so it's mostly scams.
AFAIK, Telegram always had the mobile phone number requirement so, no, the friction to sign up is the same.
Signal is finally copying what Telegram has implemented since long ago? Do people in the West simply do not care about hiding their number (judging by WhatsApp and Signal)?
Never really understood the privacy argument for hiding (or disconnecting) your phone number in a User-User "texting" type application. I suppose if Signal were linking my identity across a bunch of platforms I'd be worried, but their privacy policy is pretty aggressive so I'm not really worried about that. Indeed the additional friction for scammers is a benefit to me. Telegram is a morass of dodgy group chats and s…
For a lot of people, signal is not simply a User-User "texting" type application, but much more akin to slack or discord or matrix.
Many, Many reporters put their signal number in twitter bio seeking tips. Many activists (including me) use signal group chats to organize volenteers and staff, and publicly share room links. In other words, we have to either share our number publicly or buy a burner phone number if we want people to interact with us on signal.
Never really understood the privacy argument for hiding (or disconnecting) your phone number in a User-User "texting" type application. I suppose if Signal were linking my identity across a bunch of platforms I'd be worried, but their privacy policy is pretty aggressive so I'm not really worried about that. Indeed the additional friction for scammers is a benefit to me. Telegram is a morass of dodgy group chats and s…
For a lot of people, signal is not simply a User-User "texting" type application, but much more akin to slack or discord or matrix. Many, Many reporters put their signal number in twitter bio seeking tips. Many activists (including me) use signal group chats to organize volenteers and staff, and publicly share room links. In other words, we have to either share our number publicly or buy a burner phone number if we w…
Absolutely, not to mention if you ever switch numbers you have to change the signal information. For me, its fine for verification, but I want an identifier I ever have to change.
Signal is finally copying what Telegram has implemented since long ago? Do people in the West simply do not care about hiding their number (judging by WhatsApp and Signal)?
Never really understood the privacy argument for hiding (or disconnecting) your phone number in a User-User "texting" type application. I suppose if Signal were linking my identity across a bunch of platforms I'd be worried, but their privacy policy is pretty aggressive so I'm not really worried about that. Indeed the additional friction for scammers is a benefit to me. Telegram is a morass of dodgy group chats and s…
Was gonna say: Telegram has a lot of spam and strange people starting to talk to me, scammers I suppose. Never had that on Signal.
I really hope this eventually leads to a situation where an adversary cant forcibly de-link you from your signal account by taking control of your phone number or intercepting an sms.
Signal is finally copying what Telegram has implemented since long ago? Do people in the West simply do not care about hiding their number (judging by WhatsApp and Signal)?
Well, it's different kind of things, on tgram you have usernames but lack privacy bc usual chats most ppl use are not e2ee.
On signal you have nr as piblic info but all messages are e2ee. Also signal's backup& sync mechanism is very bad.
Closest app to tgram is Whatsapp, without encryption downside. Next is maybe Element based on matrix protocol with signal type encryption for groups
Never really understood the privacy argument for hiding (or disconnecting) your phone number in a User-User "texting" type application. I suppose if Signal were linking my identity across a bunch of platforms I'd be worried, but their privacy policy is pretty aggressive so I'm not really worried about that. Indeed the additional friction for scammers is a benefit to me. Telegram is a morass of dodgy group chats and s…
For a lot of people, signal is not simply a User-User "texting" type application, but much more akin to slack or discord or matrix. Many, Many reporters put their signal number in twitter bio seeking tips. Many activists (including me) use signal group chats to organize volenteers and staff, and publicly share room links. In other words, we have to either share our number publicly or buy a burner phone number if we w…
Makes sense, definitely if anonymity from conversation partners is desired then I can see how Signal's model falls short of your needs. I've also used Signal in the past for activist group chats, but in those cases my primary risk vector has been having messages read by someone outside of the group, people typically join those after being referred by someone they met face-to-face. I suppose there's always the risk of a wrecker slipping in, and having more layers of anonymity could reduce that downside risk. Hopefully this username approach is able to address your needs better! I really like the tool so would be stoked to see it cover additional use cases.
I really hope this eventually leads to a situation where an adversary cant forcibly de-link you from your signal account by taking control of your phone number or intercepting an sms.
Doesn't the registration lock feature resolve this?
My friends on Signal do, but I have no idea how widespread it is across their whole userbase. It's not as in-your-face as Instagram, which is actually kind of nice, but like it's being said - signal is social media. you can choose to not use that feature but that's on you. To look at you and your friend group and extrapolate from there is not science, or data driven. the plural of anecdote is not data. It's like sayi…
I disabled that feature as soon as it appeared (the less I use a messaging app, the best it is) and forgot about it.
Your comment makes me curious: I do really wonder how this feature is used. Signal announced it was really something users were looking for. I wonder if it was a weak attempt at convincing the Instagram crowd or if it is really popular with some population.
In the end, I’m still angry that they removed SMS support. That was really useful to have only one messaging app on my phone.
I mean, I dont agree with the person you are replying to, but signal absolutely is a social network. Its a network you use to communicate socially. You can argue its not social media , but I think the stories feature definitely puts it on the social media spectrum to some degree.