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Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

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Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#301

Post by Vinnl »

LongHalloween wrote: post #217

Has anyone here successfully convinced their non-techie friends to switch to Signal? How have you done it? I've been trying on and off with my closest friends, but no luck.

Yep (or at least, less techie friends). Strategy is to not have WhatsApp - which leaves plenty of other alternatives (SMS, email, calling, Twitter DMs, whatever) for people who do need to contact me, but Signal is just considered easier by some. I just made sure that I've got groups chats for all my social circles that I add everyone who joins Signal to.

Additionally, taking the initiative for fun activities (or always being eager to join), which -besides being fun- gives people without Signal FOMO, haha.

Edit: Well, "switching" is a big word. They've got it installed, use it to contact me, and some have started using it as the primary means of communication with others who also have it. Most of them will still use WhatsApp even for contacts who are also on Signal though.

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#302

Post by PowerfulWizard »

ardy42 wrote: post #288
jrochkind1 wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the law enforcement is talking to you in the U.S., the only right answer is "I'd prefer to have a laywer here." Not a joke, for real. They are experts at getting you to talk to them even if you know this. They are experts at getting you to say things that incriminate you or your friends -- that you or your friends have done nothing wrong (in your opinion/as far as you know) will not protect you. The only answers y…

> If the law enforcement is talking to you in the U.S., the only right answer is "I'd prefer to have a laywer here." > Not a joke, for real. Obligatory link to the fantastic "Don't Talk to the Police" lecture from the Regent University School of Law. Watch the whole thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE

Here is a very succinct version: Shut The Fuck Up Friday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTurSi0LhJs

(fair warning, this will autoplay the word 'Fuck' in the first 10 seconds)

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#303

Post by gravitas »

travisporter wrote: post #270

I use signal, but am a little bit at unease because it's free. What's in it for the developers? Whatsapp is e2e and all that but the reason it got bought by facebook for an obscene amount of money is what gave me pause

> I use signal, but am a little bit at unease because it's free. What's in it for the developers?

I feel your question subtly touches on one of the reasons people like open source and develop for it - there are many people who just enjoying doing their tech-nerdy things and giving it away for free. Before it was called Open Source it was Freeware, Public Domain and other words - the inherent desire to just do something and give it away for free is inherent in the nature of some folks, with no expectations on return (money, fame, etc.). Postcardware and Beerware were even a thing - "like my thing? send me a postcard from where you live" and I sent a bunch of postcards. :)

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#304

Post by fsflover »

nix23 wrote: post #281
fsflover wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All typical attacks on Tor are known for many years already. If you follow the advises from the Tor website, it will be very hard (nearly impossible) to find you. What do you mean by "quite easy"?

By quite easy i mean, when you have global surveillance in place. All tor-nodes are public all tor-exits are public, if your system can track connections from one node to another node and then the exit-node everything is clear. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance#Infiltrati... Edit: And that from netzpolitik (highly trusted german source) under 'A global passive adversary' that's the interesting part: h…

It is enough to have at least a few independent relays to cover the trace. Everyone who can should be running a relay node at home I guess. Also we generally need more participants in Tor of course.

There is also I2P network, which is even harder to break (unless someone owns practically all nodes there).

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#305

Post by jabirali »

lorenzhs wrote: post #152
jabirali wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the exception of desktop app, I agree :). The desktop app takes several minutes to open (at least on Linux), so I find that the only way to use it is to start it at boot and always leave it open. I'm still hoping that someone may create other clients, e.g. a Pidgin backend. The mobile apps, on the other hand, work really well. Been using them for years now, both on Android and iOS.

When did you last try it? Startup speed of Signal-Desktop has been much improved in recent months, like, by an order of magnitude. Maybe give it another shot.

Interesting, it does indeed start in seconds instead of minutes now. That’s great!

I also see that the other issues I noticed previously (high latency when typing, “compose key” not working) have now been fixed as well.

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#306

Post by ssully »

m12k wrote: post #114
hjek wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Signal is not only used by protesters[0][1] so discovering that a phone number is connected to a Signal account by no means implies that the phone is used by a protester. [0]: https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2020/01/23/deploye... [1]: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/17/tories-swit...

Yeah, if you're ever asked why you're on Signal, just say you wanted to stay in touch with a programmer friend who's not on Facebook/WhatsApp, and they suggested Signal (that is now literally true as well - I suggest you try Signal, friend)

I got a group of friends to use Signal because of the following:

1. Sharing videos/pictures/memes is terrible in an SMS group chat 2. One person in the group has bad cell service, so we needed something that would send messages over Wifi 3. Half the people are on Android, so no iMessage 4. 1/4 of the people aren't on Facebook, so no messenger

I was the one who suggested Signal. I did so because I like the end to end encryption, but that was not a selling point for anyone else. They just cared that it solved the problems above.

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#307

Post by liamcardenas »

hkh28 wrote: post #271
jrochkind1 wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the law enforcement is talking to you in the U.S., the only right answer is "I'd prefer to have a laywer here." Not a joke, for real. They are experts at getting you to talk to them even if you know this. They are experts at getting you to say things that incriminate you or your friends -- that you or your friends have done nothing wrong (in your opinion/as far as you know) will not protect you. The only answers y…

You should actually be careful to say exactly this phrase: "I want a lawyer" and not a word more. > [W]hen a suspect in an interrogation told detectives to “just give me a lawyer dog,” the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that the suspect was, in fact, asking for a “lawyer dog,” and not invoking his constitutional right to counsel. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2017/11/02...

I thought the right to a lawyer dog was guaranteed by the K9th Amendment

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#308

Post by dmos62 »

salex89 wrote: post #293

I actually like Signal, and would use it a lot more, but don't because of one feature - link previews. I understand the technical reasoning why are they so slow to adopt it, but I (and a group of people I communicate on a daily basis) would probably accept even a half-baked solution like the one on WhatsApp.

I never found link previews useful. I always try to disable them when I can, and take care to not post a link with a preview (where I can) so as not to polute the visual space of the chat. The only case where I enjoy them is in Wikipedia.

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#309

Post by jrochkind1 »

vincentmarle wrote: post #256
jrochkind1 wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the law enforcement is talking to you in the U.S., the only right answer is "I'd prefer to have a laywer here." Not a joke, for real. They are experts at getting you to talk to them even if you know this. They are experts at getting you to say things that incriminate you or your friends -- that you or your friends have done nothing wrong (in your opinion/as far as you know) will not protect you. The only answers y…

I’ve heard this before but here’s my practical problem: I don’t know any lawyers. I have literally no idea who to call in such a situation. Do I have to go find and retain a lawyer beforehand just in case I might need one later?

You might want to find one advance, but you just have to not talk to the police UNTIL you find one when you need one. You in fact have the constitutional right to this.

Even a last minute lawyer who may not turn out to be ideal is better than no lawyer. A public defender may also be an option in some cases.

When you say the 'magic' legal words "I want a lawyer", they should not talk to you anymore until you have one. In most cases, you are or will be at home with plenty of time to find a lawyer. In some cases you may find yourself detained/arrested ("Am I being detained? Am I free to go?" are other 'magic' words). They may try to tell you that if you would only talk to them, they would let you go -- they are VERY LIKELY lying.

Do not trust that you can tell or sense if they are lying or not. They are experts at tricking you, they are trained and have lots of practice in it. They are legally allowed to lie. (In my personal experience, they did lie about exactly this -- they said "if you just talk to us, you can be on your way", I talked to them, I got arrested anyway.).

Getting arrested sucks; talking to the police without a lawyer can make it much much worse.

tldr; no, you don't need a lawyer in advance, you can ALWAYS say "I would like to remain silent, I would like a lawyer", and you always have this right, and they can not talk to you (or use anything from talking to you) without a lawyer once you've said this.

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#310

Post by gnome_chomsky »

The more people that adopt Signal, the better. I've been using it for years due to privacy concerns and usually ask everyone that I regularly communicate with to adopt it. I don't think it indicates any subversive or illegal behavior, but merely a desire to have private communications remain private.
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