Let’s hope they’ll be able to continue to use it. It (and all other messengers with proper E2EE) is already on track to be outlawed in Sweden and France, and the new government in Germany will be pro mass-surveillance, too.
Milk is getting more expensive. Moral of the story: Buy a cow.
I really wish people would stop being so delusional about the average person’s technological abilities. jUsT TeLL grAn To sPin Up a mATrIx SErvEr… stfu
“Everyone should be hosting a server” was NOT my point, sorry if I got misunderstood. My mother could in no way host an XMPP server on her own - but I could register her an account on mine.
Rather, I meant: a) if you can host it, suggest your friends and family to use your server; b) if you can’t - that is still better: with multiple public servers available, there is no single point of failure, you can choose a server in whatever jurisdiction you want, or even an onion/i2p one.
i rather talk to my grand parents over ham radio than giving them a smartphone
No way in hell my relatives are going to use a messenger I selfhosted. My brother doesn’t even use Signal for whatever reason, even though even my grandmother has it.
That is the problem of getting another person to change something… A very valid problem but not inherent to decentralization.
true but this is not yet easy enough for normal humans. selfhosting anything is not yet easy enough
And is potentially even less secure if someone who has no idea about managing a server at all tries to spin up an online service.
We have never come across one that is as easy to use as Signal and has no problems with encryption, either that it can have its encryption turned off, it breaks easily or that it makes dubious claims with few-no audits to back them up.
Plus the common person enjoys the fun features of Signal or other easy messengers, most decentralised messages do not have these features, are indefinitely working on them or make them not as easy to use, leading to most being uninterested in those messengers.
We have tried most if not all of them, than most and they are definitely lacking as much as we wish they were not. Decentralised encrypted (or partially encrypted) messengers always seem to have problems whether it’s with their encryption, moderation tools, connectivity or the lack of other features.
My dad just said in the WhatsApp group, why not move to signal. I tried moving friends and family before, but now that there has been anti meta media reports in some news sources. But especially reports on signal in almost every major newspaper and news source.
It seems not only a push because of privacy, but even more a anti big tech(especially us tech) and buy/use eu stuff push.
I don’t mind the push I’m just curious if people stay on signal. Previous time there was a push to signal (during whatsapp technical difficulties and privacy push) people quickly want back to whatsapp.
Now my volunteer work, 1 friend and a family chat already moved to signal. The only thing I did was some explaining that you can just send images and so on. (That it’s not something scary)
What are the major differences between what you can do on Whatsapp vs Signal?
Whatsapp let’s you donate your contact list and social network to meta for them to resell.
The only real differences we can think of is:
Whatsapp unlike Signal doesn’t have usernames meaning a phone number must be used to contact others on it, and that Whatsapp’s report feature shares the unencrypted message and surrounding messages with Meta to give context for the report.
A lot of VPN servers in Netherlands may have something to do with it…
Why? Because the Dutch national broadcasters keep plugging it as an alternative to Whatsapp.
Aside… Two apps keep getting mentioned as alternatives, Signal and Element/Matrix, but in MHRO both are not viable as replacements.
Signal: still a US app, CIA funded, provides their encryption backbone to Whatsapp, recommended by governments & FBI. Matrix/Element: Developed in Israel, with ties to IDF, preferred by NATO (NI2CE)
Signal does seem to have some ties to the CIA
There seems to be a completely different Israeli company called matrix. I can’t find any link between the two.
Maybe OP means that the Matrix protocol is created by an Israeli company.
Just FYI:
If you want to say “both are not”, you can instead use “neither”.
Signal: still a US app, CIA funded
Honestly, this gives me more confidence in it. The CIA is very interested in keeping its people safe, so if they’re using it, its in their interest to ensure it’s secure. If they do put in a backdoor, I happen to be a US citizen so I’m unlikely to be a target since the CIA is all about surveillance on outsiders (FBI is domestic). FBI and Signal rarely agree, but they agree that Signal is great, so I think that’s a pretty strong endorsement.
Add to that Edward Snowden recommends it, and he’s certainly an enemy of both the CIA and the FBI at this point.
I happen to be a US citizen so I’m unlikely to be a target since the CIA is all about surveillance on outsiders (FBI is domestic)
All of that’s off the table now with Trump in power. It’s more than likely the CIA will be deployed against domestic targets.
I would have rather seen Element but hey, it’s a step in the right direction.
Why? Matrix sucks as an instant messenger app, it’s better as a Slack/Discord alternative.
Only because I’m not aware of other decentralised Signal alternatives. That’s on me.
It only sucks because you keep using Element. Its the worst client out there, if you account for “doneness”
Isn’t Element based of Matrix? From what I’ve read, Matrix is a bit mid (not exactly mid, but I can’t think of any other word).
It works as it’s supposed to, though the handling of keys (strictly necessary for self-determined end-to-end encrypted chats) can be hard and annoying for people who have no experience. But once you get the hang of device confirmation you can use it seamlessly across multiple devices.
