Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 330 posts

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#291

Post by rickycook »

thecatspaw wrote: post #152
dnate wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is literally no downside to end-to-end encrypting text messages. So it should be default. It is just harder to implement technically.

There is, you can only access them on the devices you sent them from or receive them from. If you add another client weeks down the line, you cannot access these messages anymore

not entirely true... you can pair a new device which shares the decryption key. hell, you could even do a p2p sync so the server stores nothing... there are plenty of options that get technically harder with each increment (perfect forward secrecy gives you some limitations), but you can absolutely backup and restore, or even live sync conversations between multiple devices even if it’s e2e

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#292

Post by Boulth »

arendtio wrote: post #137
mgw wrote: post #15

I understand Telegram's appeal because of its high quality apps and big feature list, but articles such as this one really should be more nuanced when pushing Telegram's marketing message of "We have true privacy and unlimited space for everyone.". Their default mode is not end-to-end encrypted [1] and as such the product is less private than WhatsApp. Even tech-savvy users in my social circles are not aware of this…

Just to throw in another alternative: Some might know XMPP [1] for being the IETF standardized instant messaging protocol and Conversations [2] as one of the modern XMPP clients. Recently, the main author of Conversations created a new version of his app called 'Quicksy'. Quicksy is still an XMPP client but with the ease of use other messangers deliver. For example, you don't have to choose a provider. Yet you still…

The only problem with XMPP is that there is no iOS app that's as good as Conversations.

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#293

Post by ergocoder »

Honest question here.

Isn't Telegram inherently unsafe/unsecure because all of its operations are in Russia?

When a Russian authority knocks on their doors, they would be forced to answer.

It's true that US would do the same thing. But I'd prefer US doing it over Russia or China doing it. Because, at least, transparency and justice system in US is a lot better than ones in Russia and China.

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#294

Post by Krasnol »

karlmcguire wrote: post #286
Krasnol wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A simple bot on Telegram is the perfect antidote against political stupidity. It's a perfect vehicle for political stupidity too. Here in Germany Telegram has a history of being the preferred nest for all kinds of fascist hate groups that have been banned on Facebook. Actually this is the only times I've heard/read about Telegram in the media here.

We should get Telegram to censor them too, that would definitely not make things worse.

Nice derailing.

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#295

Post by alehul »

ergocoder wrote: post #293

Honest question here. Isn't Telegram inherently unsafe/unsecure because all of its operations are in Russia? When a Russian authority knocks on their doors, they would be forced to answer. It's true that US would do the same thing. But I'd prefer US doing it over Russia or China doing it. Because, at least, transparency and justice system in US is a lot better than ones in Russia and China.

Telegram moved out of Russia and has since been banned in the country.

That aside, as an American, I feel like maybe there's some advantage to it being Russia rather than the US, as it's not your own country or an ally. Probably not enough of a reason to prefer Russia, but there is something to think about there. :)

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#296

Post by arendtio »

Boulth wrote: post #292
arendtio wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to throw in another alternative: Some might know XMPP [1] for being the IETF standardized instant messaging protocol and Conversations [2] as one of the modern XMPP clients. Recently, the main author of Conversations created a new version of his app called 'Quicksy'. Quicksy is still an XMPP client but with the ease of use other messangers deliver. For example, you don't have to choose a provider. Yet you still…

The only problem with XMPP is that there is no iOS app that's as good as Conversations.

It is kinda hard to be as good as Conversations ;-) But you have a point. ChatSecure [1] became usable in the last two years and Monal [2] is another young project aiming to close the iOS client gap. Nevertheless, while there are still some bugs in both clients, I am expecting that those bugs will get fixed in the next months.

[1] https://chatsecure.org

[2] https://monal.im

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#297

Post by tivert »

newscracker wrote: post #280
tivert wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> See [1] and [2] that I linked in another comment here and check on backups explicitly being denied on iOS. They apparently have an open issue for this (though it looks like it's locked to prevent people from endlessly complaining in their bug tracker). https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS/issues/2542 It also sounds like they have a branch where they're working on this feature: https://whispersystems.discoursehos…

The reason given is “security”, or to copy paste from the link I have given: “iTunes backups are disabled to prevent plaintext leakage to iCloud or insecure systems.” I have a negative opinion of Signal because they have not dealt with this for years and have been stubborn on that point. Please read the comments on the link I have given and also look at issues they have closed on the same topic. Their responses on th…

> I have a negative opinion of Signal because they have not dealt with this for years and have been stubborn on that point.

Why? It's their time and I doubt you're their boss.

> But this particular issue, introduced and imposed by the Signal team, is a deal breaker.

It seems like you just fundamentally disagree with their priorities, which is kind of a poor reason for having a negative opinion of them. It seems like they want to create the maximally secure yet reasonably usable chat app, and you want a maximally convenient yet reasonably secure chat app.

IMHO, Signal's priorities are far more unique and innovative, and that's why they have my support. Literally every other app out there decides to make the opposite trade offs.

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#298

Post by jonlucc »

Krasnol wrote: post #236
jonlucc wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily. Would you say that a museum or university isn't sustainable because its revenue from goods and services is less money than it spends? If they have an endowment or similar vehicle set up, they can use interest to pay salaries, and other expenses. That's the kind of thing that could be enabled by a single large donation and should be considered sustainable despite a lack of other recurring revenue.

> Would you say that a museum or university isn't sustainable because its revenue from goods and services is less money than it spends? Yes? That's why it's being usually run by tax money. A regular flow of funds. Something you can plan and work with.

Ok, then I'll speak specifically about my local institution. My local art museum gets zero funding from taxes, but runs on its endowment and whatever revenue it brings in from admission, membership, events, food and beverage sales, and merchandise sales. Are they unsustainable because of that?

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#299

Post by roel_v »

kekebo wrote: post #84
roel_v wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well yeah but it's not the mess the gp alludes to.

plus Signal doesn't store all your contacts on their server as Telegram and WhatsApp do

Do you mean that as a positive or a negative thing?

Also, apart from what I mentioned above, I've also found out that with Signal it's very hard to transfer your chat history to another phone. (involves manually copying over a backup, entering 30 char key). I can't in good conscience recommend an app like that as a replacement to anyone, so I guess my Signal experiment will be short-lived.

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#300

Post by Markoff »

eitland wrote: post #275
fvjft wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3.50€ for an IM app when there are dozens that are free? Yeah, no.

I loved WhatsApp when I had to pay for it. I'd respect Telegram more if I had to pay for it from the start. 3.50€? Seriously, people use more on coffee. "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin Seriously, at least for westerners, if we cannot pay the same for a secure messaging app as for a coffee then we don't deserve…

I never get coffee argument, if I can choose between coffee for 3.5€ or coffee for free in cup plastered with ads I ain't spending the money

plus I don't really spend money on unnecessary things or pleasures, at least not regularly as your typical daily coffee drinker

Post reply on HN