I know Lemmy hates telegram but it should be common knowledge that all platforms process requests from authorities.
The repeated posting of this story the last few days seems artificial.
this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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Privacy
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I don't really have any special hate for Telegram myself, and I never saw it as a secure communication platform. I have more problem with Signal because people treat it like it's paragon of privacy and security.
I'd be curious to hear your criticisms of Signal! While I haven't seen anyone describing it as a "paragon of privacy and security" I do think it is a highly accessible SMS replacement that is also open source, end-to-end encrypted, and operated by a nonprofit.
I wrote a longer one here: https://dessalines.github.io/essays/why_not_signal.html
The short version is, that it's a centralized, US hosted service. All of those are subject to National Security Letters, and so are inherently compromised. Even if we accept that the message content is secure, then signal's reliance on phone numbers (and in the US, a phone number is connected to your real identity and even current address), means that the US government has social connection graphs: everyone who uses signal, who they talk to, and when.
Building on this, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on GrapheneOS as a whole. The OS recently bundled a new app "store"/repository, "Accrescent”, along with the usual basic apps like a calculator & camera. On Accrescent, the hardened fork of Signal, Molly, is offered on there. I've alsoheard one of the Graphene devs has voiced some chuddy politics.
I've still installed & use Molly to chat with my closest friends who I was able to get off of big tech platforms previously used for our group chats, but I have been aware of the RFA/Signal connection for several years (your blog post really ties it together) & I do try to remind these friends about it. Really we just use Signal to shitpost and organize hangouts, so I'm not yet locking myself in a bunker over using it for those purposes, but all this has got me considering building a server & hosting a different secure chat service on it.
I learned about possible Unit 8200 connections with the Matrix protocol within the past year or two, but don't recall exactly what that entails. I haven't heard much about Briar, but it being android only would make it a harder sell for getting people to switch over to it, so I suppose that leaves simpleX to proselytize.
You are literally incorrect.
You have provided literally nothing to back up your assertion.
Signal does not know who talks to whom. It's kind of the main thing about the double ratchet.
The most obvious one that has been explained to death here is that Signal collects vast amounts of metadata. It's also a centralized service that's operated in the US, and it doesn't even make reproducible builds for the Android client.
Where did you read that they are collecting vast amounts of metadata? Not challenging your claim just that I have been trying to find more info and came up empty. Signal says "we don’t collect analytics or telemetry data" but that's about it.
You need a phone number to sign up. Phone numbers are metadata that uniquely identifies people, and this data constitutes a network of connections. If this metadata is shared with the government, then it can be trivially correlated with all the other information collected about people.
In my book a phone number is not "vast amounts of metadata" but I see your point. Again, I have never seen someone describing Signal as a “paragon of privacy and security” 9usually it's presented as an improvement over SMS) but if they do I will put on my Trilby and correct them.
It's the volumes of phone numbers collected collectively that constitute vast amounts of metadata. Meanwhile, I've seen plenty of people advocate using Signal as the best option for privacy. And any time there is a criticism of Signal then then brigades of people inexplicably appear to vigorously defend it.
And now you know why we've been telling you not to use Telegram.
I hear signal is not a good alternative. What is a good one, then?
Depends on your threat model. Signal is fine if you just want to communicate with average joe. If you want something more anonymous look into secureX,
Matrix, simplex, xmpp.
Where are you hearing this?
Signal is an excellent alternative if you're looking for an E2E encrypted SMS replacement your grandmother can use.
What seems crazy to me is how many people they managed to convince that they were private when they most definitely are not.
Any criminal with half a brain knew what's up
Brain dead normies lapring edge lord on there were just useful idiots for their handlers
Welp then I think we have to sue them to oblivion S/ But really can’t blame most people whose Are Accustomed to using TeleGram And WhatsUp
