As an aside, I’m very much convinced that Signal’s primary objective is to gather phone numbers in order to facilitate the US government tracing social networks of people who are already of interest Their main focus isn’t on what these people are discussing, they want to know who is talking to whom first and foremost. Signal’s subpar user experience is a feature from this perspective. Due to its inconvenience for the average person, those with a strong need or desire to communicate sensitive information are more likely to utilize it.
What’s with all the hate on Signal on here? I see probably one post a week trying to bash it because of some unproven conspiracy about it.
It’s a non-profit whose goal is to provide encrypted private chat.
Signal’s subpar user experience is a feature from this perspective.
Signal is literally just a chat service. The user experience is on par with any other service, except it’s backed by a trust in the company to not sell out on the end user because it’s a non-profit and isn’t beholden to any shareholders.
I mean, I can see why it’s brewed an anti crowd. Founded by Radio Free Asia, a USA propaganda arm, and was funded up until late last year.
Additionally they have been aggressively pushed by the NED, an organization created to effectively conduct CIA color revolution in the overt.
And finally, compared to the other major US developed and funded project Tor, it is very centralized. It requires a phone number to use. The open source code is very oftenly neglected with the repository being out of date compared to the code being pushed out in updates.
Not every non-profit is your friend. Especially not non-profits that recieve funding largely from an agressive state that fashions itself as world police.
Now, I do use it as the US government is not currently in my threat model and I’m in need of an accessible messaging platform that I can get friends, family, and coworkers onto. But if for instance, the next administration extends transphobic policies federally you best believe I’m keeping that information off Signal.
It’s a non-profit whose goal is to provide encrypted private chat.
It’s a non-profit run by ex-CIA people that’s hosted centrally in US, and being aggressively marketed as the only legitimate means of secure communication. Any time somebody points out the many problems associated with Signal, people swarm in to defend it as the one perfect secure chat platform that everybody should be using. Weird!
So what is your suggested platform?
I think if you really care about privacy then you basically have to run your own for people you know and trust. At that point it doesn’t really matter what it is. It also depends on your threat profile. If you don’t actually care that people know your contact network, then Signal or any other app is perfectly fine. For vast majority of people it really doesn’t matter. The point is that Signal isn’t a good solution for people who do genuinely care about privacy.
Yup, I got dogpiled with smarmy comments downplaying my pointing out that the Open Technology Fund (that’s affiliated with Radio Free Asia) audited the Signal Protocol. I still try to get people to switch to it from SMS or Whatsapp (with limited success, an ex was one of the few who already had it installed prior… cuz of their dealer), but it’s not like I have any illusions of organizing the revolution on the app
Do you have evidence? And what do you think of the Molly fork?
Molly is just a bit of a hardened version. It’s still signal besides that
I’m just pointing out the obvious reason why the US would be promoting the use of Signal so aggressively. Molly doesn’t address the problem of having to go through a central server located in US to use Signal. The only way to address it would be to host your own server for yourself and your friends, but at that point you don’t actually need Signal in the first palce.
Where is it being promoted/marketed? I haven’t seen that. I’m only aware of Signal because of tech news and privacy threads.
Tech news and privacy threads is precisely what influence the demographic using Signal. And now it’s become a cult.
You haven’t answered my core questions. You seem to be suggesting there’s a centralized or concerted push to promote/market Signal rather than an assortment of disconnected posts and articles. I’m open to that possibility, but what’s the evidence?
The evidence is that a lot of prominent people in tech, influencers if you like, incessantly promote Signal, and anybody pointing out problems with it gets immediately mobbed. I don’t have definitive proof for you, if that’s what you’re asking, but it’s certainly a weird situation that I haven’t seen happening with other messaging platforms. I find it odd to say the least.
I hadn’t noticed, but if that’s the case it certainly is weird and suspicious. I’ll keep an eye out, thanks.
