Privacy

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Is there any good private messenger at all? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by JustMarkov@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

102 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've been inspecting this topic quite a lot and I'm a little confused now. So, we have reasons not to use Signal, reasons not to use Matrix, there were also some claims about Session being a fraught. Briar is mostly activists related (not very suitable for daily use), XMPP lacks good clients and suffers from fragmentation of protocol standards implementation, SimpleX is too feature-incomplete (no UnifiedPush support, big battery drain on Android, very decent desktop client without any message sync). I can't say a lot about Threema or Wire, as I'm not very familiar with them.

So, my question is — is there any good private messenger at all? What do you think is the most acceptable option?

EDIT: In addition to my post:

All messengers have their flaws, I'm well aware of that. I was interested in hearing users' opinions regarding these shortcomings, not in finding the perfect messenger. I may have worded my thoughts incorrectly, sorry for that.

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[–] Cenotaph@mander.xyz 28 points 2 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 26 points 2 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] Sparkega@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

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.

[–] toastal@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago

Let me message you without having an Android or iOS primary device then. Can’t do it.