'Signal tests usernames to avoid using phone numbers.' Great move?

Submitted ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨woshang@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://cybernews.com/news/signal-started-testing-usernames/

It seems useless to me, at least regarding the cybersecurity aspect. Of course, it’s helpful when people ask for my contact information, and I don’t want to share my phone number or email address.

But they still require information that could be used to prove or be linked to my identity for registration, right? This means a hacker could still reveal your IP address, phone number, email, and your passcode. Likewise, the development team can access these as well.

I know I’m overly cautious about my privacy, but that’s just how I am.

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Comments

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DV8@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Seems I’m in the minority but having to use my phone number as identier is exactly why I don’t use apps like this, including WhatsApp. I don’t care if my username gets shared, but I do not want my phone number to be shared with a bunch of randoms.

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- nix@midwest.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Would you be more likely to use Signal if the username tests become mainstream? Then you wouldn’t need to share your phone # with everyone.
  
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  - DV8@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    As in use phone number to sign up but only share unique username. I’d still dislike having to use a phone number but being able to use such an app with family would be enough of a plus to finally get over it.
    
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GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I use Signal because there are few viable alternatives, but I absolutely hate that it requires a phone number at all. Nothing should require a phone number, much less use it as a primary account ID. Phone numbers are not user IDs. They do not belong to users, they can be reassigned to different people by third parties, they are frequently controlled by corporations with horrible security practices.

Ironically, iMessage is much better in this regard. You can actually use it with just an Apple ID, which does not require a phone number, only an email address.

It sounds like Signal will still require a phone number but merely allow you to hide it. That’s a big improvement, but still bad.

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ooterness@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I remember when Signal used to be a drop-in replacement for SMS. It used phone numbers so you could automatically upgrade to secure messaging if your recipient also had Signal, and just use regular SMS otherwise.

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- PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Signal’s automatic fallback to SMS was the best. Now they killed that and even have the audacity to ask for donations. Boo!
  
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Infiltrated_ad8271@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
It's disappointing, I wanted to have desktop signal without depending on an application in another device.

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- EngineerGaming@feddit.nl ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I currently use Waydroid to use it without a smartphone, and it is very annoying that I have to bother like this.
  
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MondayToFriday@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
All the personal information you mentioned should be hashed or encrypted. For any given phone number, see how little information they have: just an account creation timestamp and a last access timestamp.

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fubo@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
So if I claim fubo as a username on Signal, that means what? Nobody else can use that username? If so, it’s another global namespace, same as Twitter; ten or twenty years in the future, someone’s gonna want to be reclaiming disused usernames.

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- starlord@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  What if I want to be fubo to some people, and MissCatPictures to other people?
  
  Use SimpleX
  
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  - pret2xyz@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    [deleted]
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  - WallEx@feddit.de ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The question is about the functionality of signal
    
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- MondayToFriday@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  In the current Staging implementation, you pick a username (which you can change), and the app picks a two-digit suffix to your username.
  
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  - fubo@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Oh, so can I keep trying until I get to be fubo69? Nice.
    
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- AbidanYre@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  What if I want to be fubo to some people, and MissCatPictures to other people?
  
  Jami allows that, and I think Cwtch does as well. SimpleX doesn’t have username at all.
  
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