this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
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Privacy
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Give me your phone number so I can chat with you on signal about this.
Signal has usernames (must be enabled) and you can have your phone number hidden from public view & prevent it from being used to search up your acc
That got added recently, but you still need a phone number to sign up. A phone number is tied to your identity, meaning that signal's database has the names and addresses of everyone who uses it. And since signal is US-based, its subject to US national security letters, meaning its illegal for signal to tell anyone that the US government has requested information about who they're talking to.
Under the Obama administration, an average of 60 NSLs were issued every single day.
It's not too difficult to establish a Signal account from a burner number from a prepaid sim card. I currently have a Signal account tied to a sim not in my name. Getting a burner with cash is an option. Or, if you're lucky enough to live near a payphone and can gain access to the number, you can activate a signal with a phone call.
There is no reason to do any of that. No one forced signal to use phone numbers as their primary identifier, and plenty of privacy oriented chat programs don't require that.
I'm sot trusting anything from signal themselves, just like I wouldn't trust anything apple, microsoft, google, or any other US-based company with centralized services says about themselves.
Let me message you without having an Android or iOS primary device then. Can’t do it.