Well yeah we could also use Briar or whatever… but would your grandma?
Comment on Signal – an ethical replacement for WhatsApp
perestroika@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
I will use the opportunity to remind that Signal is operated by a non-profit in the jurisdiction called “the US”. This could have implications.
An anarchist option might be TOX. There is no single client, TOX is a protocol, you can choose from half a dozen clients. I personally use qTox.
Upside: no phone number required. No questions asked.
Downside: no servers to store and forward messages. You can talk if both parties are online.
lmuel@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
i’ve only managed to get some of my fam to move over to signal. the other half full on refused
h0p3@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
[deleted]xeekei@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Not sure if you’re actually sincere or are sarcastically making fun of Tox’s onboarding. That’s a long key.
perestroika@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
He’s not joking, TOX IDs are like that. :) Mine is:
CA9A4C1968AA38CC93CB32F31F3682AB897ABA42C90E6F0EA5E1FB541930FD64138B4CC09AD2
aidan@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You can use Signal with a different client. Signal being operated within the US has no effect. As of now the jurisdictions that I know of to be worried about are:
The UK, where Apple was recently ordered to remove end-to-end encryption features, and have been gagged from talking about it
Sweden, where a law is proposed to add an encryption backdoor
The EU, where leadership is pushing for an encryption backdoor
My understanding is that the Indian government under the BJP and Congress has been pretty consistently anti-encryption, and violated privacy rights
France arrested the founder of Telegram for using end to end encryption in Telegram
Australia in 2018 passed a law that enabled the government to require communications platforms add a backdoor for government decryption. The Director of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) said that “privacy is important but not absolute”. Which reminds me of “this is not about human rights, this is about human life.”
WhatsApp was previously suspended in Brazil for refusing to hand over decrypted messages.
China and Russia are very obvious problems. Here’s an easy one of many examples
The White House both in Trump’s first term and in Biden’s presidency were pro-encryption. Signal and Tor were US government funded projects. That’s not to say the US is great on encryption, and there have been laws in the past that did/were proposed to limit it. But, as of now, it seems that the US is the most hospitable jurisdiction for encrypted messaging non-profits.
perestroika@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Can you advise, which one would be a good one? I have had endless difficulties with Signal forcing upgrades on me and requiring to sign in on the phone, under threat of deactivating my account (I use it on a PC).
I actually use Signal, it’s just misbehaving a lot recently.
aidan@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I’ve never used any, but Molly seems well liked