Comment on Signal – an ethical replacement for WhatsApp

Humanius@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• viking@piefed.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  There is threema, a Swiss messenger that gained some popularity earlier since they had end to end encryption before whatsapp.

  Unfortunately the source code is not open (even though they do get annual audits with public reports), and the client costs 3 EUR or something (once).

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  • Humanius@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Yeah, but Threema has basically no momentum behind it at all at this point.
    I’m putting my social capital behind the option that currently stands the most chance of beating out Whatsapp

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    • tux0r@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Threema has a pretty big momentum in some countries.

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      • Humanius@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Then by all means keep that momentum going. I’m just looking at this from a Dutch perspective.

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      • glaber@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Which?

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  • philpo@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    And Switzerlands records in terms of privacy sadly is far worse than most people think - even with the last attack being repelled.

    Matrix (preferably on a non-matrix.org instance) currently is the preferable non US and privacy friendly way.

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    • tux0r@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I don’t know - this hype about Matrix reminds me of XMPP which was similarly popular a decade ago. Today, nobody even remembers it anymore.

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      • philpo@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Which hype? Matrix as a protocol is used for a decade now, especially by various big governments (French, Luxembourg and German governmental messenger, various German states, German and Polish armed forces, German healthcare messenger, various smaller projects in Latin America), is bridgeable (I currently have it bridged to Whatsapp and Signal amongst others) but I really don’t see a hype - on the contrary I only see people predicting me the immediate apocalypse of Matrix for 5 years now, currently due to matrix.org (one of a hundred instances) introducing a premium account model for the most cost intensive (heavily media sharing)users. (See below for that).

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      • jjlinux@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Pepperidge farm remembers, and so do I. Lots of people I know use XMPP (Cheogram, Dino, etc).

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  • RollForInitiative@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    They also offer Threema Libre on F-Droid for all us folks who degoogled their phone

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  • Venator@lemmy.nz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Until Facebook buys them like they did with WhatsApp…?

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  • sqgl@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Unfortunately the source code is not open

    Wrong.

    threema.com/en/why-threema/open-source

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    • ornery_chemist@mander.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      FYI, while Threema front-end clients are open-source (and offer reproducible builds, which is surprisingly uncommon in open-source land), the server component, though supposedly audited, remains closed-source.

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      • sqgl@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Thanks.

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    • viking@piefed.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      That's just the client, the server architecture is what really matters.

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      • sqgl@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Thanks, yeah someone else said similar here.

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• Kualdir@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Sadly many still don't want to switch. My most active chats are in signal now but the large majority of chats are still on whatsapp

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  • tux0r@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    If you leave WhatsApp, your chats will usually follow.

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    • Humanius@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Not all of them.

      I have a non-official chat group with some colleagues, and a chat group for the neighbourhood that are not likely moving just because I am refusing to use Whatsapp. It would just result in me missing out on those chat groups.

      Currently I just have both installed, and that is also how I try to convince people to install and try out Signal.

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• uniquethrowagay@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Signal is based in America but it’s a non profit organization, not a company. Important difference

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  • Humanius@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    But being based in the United States it is still subject to American laws, and any potential American spying and embargoes.

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• ZMoney@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  America is not a monolith. Signal’s developers are very much aware of the risks of operating there and probably already have several escape plans given recent developments. I also think five-eyes probably has access but getting it might be computationally expensive.

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