Yeah obviously Signal will not help you with someone who physically has access to your phone but for the love of christ do not use Telegram or Whatsapp instead Moreover, ICE must be destroyed - ThreadSky

miawong.bsky.social • 117 days ago

Yeah obviously Signal will not help you with someone who physically has access to your phone but for the love of christ do not use Telegram or Whatsapp instead

Moreover, ICE must be destroyed

Reposted from Ian Coldwater 📦💥

Before you spread panic about imaginary issues with Signal, consider why these rumors might be going around right now and in whose interest it might be for them to do so

Comments

blank.org•117 days ago

Whatsapp uses the same underlying protocol as Signal; for most people and purposes it's likely fine. (If your threat model includes state actors, for the love of god don't make this decision based on anyone's bsky post: ask a professional.)

https://signal.org/blog/whatsapp-complete/

blahaj.moe•117 days ago

WhatsApp also includes a backdoor function to enable message reporting

blank.org•116 days ago

I wouldn’t exactly call that a backdoor: if your or the person you’re talking to forward a message to a third party, it’s no longer confidential— Facebook security certainly qualifies!

miawong.bsky.social•117 days ago

it's not even enabled by default lol

blank.org•117 days ago

You seem like your heart is in the right place and ICE indeed must be destroyed, but this is simply incorrect. WhatsApp uses the signal protocol for all individual and group messages: the link from the Signal foundation I posted confirms this and discusses the (now complete) transition period.

kkinsf.bsky.social•117 days ago

I can't imagine ever trusting an app that is owned by Zuckerberg. He has shown us time and again who he is. I wouldn't put it past him to put in a back door for Trump.
Just use Signal if you want to be sure. You can set chats to disappear in a second, minutes hours, weeks, etc so there's no record

absoluteboi.com•117 days ago

whatsapp collects metadata on users chats that signal doesnt and they can and will provide that to LE when compelled.

absoluteboi.com•117 days ago

source: https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2021/12/heres-what-data-the-fbi-can-get-from-whatsapp-imessage-signal-telegram-and-more

though this is slightly outdated in that telegram which used to not be compliant (and is not E2EE by default) with LE subpoenas has become very cooperative ever since the arrest of its founder and CEO last year.

kbuechner.bsky.social•117 days ago

But @lookitup.baby IS a professional? It seems like you know that because you follow each other, so I don’t really understand this. I’m not trying to be weird, I just don’t really follow the train of thought I guess

lookitup.baby•117 days ago

I read that as a more general statement and while I’m not sure I agree with that take on Whatsapp, I wasn’t offended by it

blank.org•116 days ago

Yeah, there are certainly scenarios where Signal is preferable! I just worry about discouraging WhatsApp under the circumstances— Signal’s userbase is relatively tiny and the likely fallback from WhatsApp for most conversations isn’t signal, it’s SMS/RCS.

lookitup.baby•116 days ago

Sure, that makes sense. I think we might be talking to two different groups of people; generally I’m talking to leftists who are passing bad information amongst themselves and suggesting WhatsApp or Telegram as alternatives to Signal, which are worse

blank.org•116 days ago

Oh yeah, if you’re starting from zero, there’s probably no good reason not to pick Signal first, especially if you’re doing organizing in the US.

kbuechner.bsky.social•117 days ago

Yeah I’m not trying to defend you or anything, I’m just curious why it’d be a bad idea to take advice directed toward a general audience. It kind of makes sense but kind of doesn’t? I also had surgery today and am on a decent dose of oxycodone, which I realize now is probably the reason I’m confused

kbuechner.bsky.social•117 days ago

Wanted to clarify I wasn’t trying to “dig up dirt” or whatever by looking at your profile, I wanted went to see if you’d posted more about this and saw the badge saying someone I follow follows you. I hope this isn’t off-putting, and I promise I’m asking in good faith.

ellearmageddon.bsky.social•117 days ago

it’s true that whatsapp uses the same encryption algorithm, and that’s primarily applicable to messages in transit: it doesn’t correspond to data retention/deletion policy, storage security or the security posture of the application itself

whatsapp is better than nothing, and there ARE differences

shoshiroll.bsky.social•117 days ago

matrix is another good app/platform, but requires more setup which signal does not need.

shoshiroll.bsky.social•117 days ago

orgs should probably work on setting up the infra tho

siroj42.bsky.social•116 days ago

They've also ignored security issues in the past just because they assumed they couldn't be exploited (see https://soatok.blog/2024/08/14/security-issues-in-matrixs-olm-library/), and it's possible to use Matrix without E2EE, which statistically means it's going to happen, which is why that's a bad practice.

shoshiroll.bsky.social•116 days ago

Neat. I had no idea.

And yeah, that E2E part is why it takes more setup. I don't think its a replacement for signal, more of a replacement for stuff like Discord.

siroj42.bsky.social•116 days ago

That Signal is centralized is an issue, but Matrix kind of started with an "IRC replacement" angle, not a privacy focus, and it shows.

soatok.bsky.social•116 days ago

People still erroneously evangelize Matrix to people that don't like Signal's centralization, and they in turn try to speak over me when I give an expert recommendation.

https://soatok.blog/2024/07/31/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-signal-competitor/

bodhisp4cem0nkey.bsky.social•117 days ago

But I thought we were gonna plan a political movement solely via public key encrypted text files, where the keys are passed via dead drops and the files transferred via TOR on rasberry pie consoles that run paranoid linux.

hardlylurkin.bsky.social•117 days ago

Ok hegemon

lookitup.baby•117 days ago

I’m a terrible person for laughing at this

patboi.bsky.social•117 days ago

Signal is hands down the best option on the app stores. If you need more security, then we can talk about that. But to use anything less is foolish.

animaniac89.bsky.social•117 days ago

I'm still working to learn Signal, I have it downloaded but need to figure it out. I've been busy with a few things.

clearspark.bsky.social•117 days ago

Basically you want to go into your settings, privacy, then turn on disappearing messages for all new chats.

Then, all you need to do is either exchange contact links with someone else who uses it or, even better, add people when you see them in person and do in person verification w/ QR code.

clearspark.bsky.social•117 days ago

Verification is optional, but you are able to prove that no one is intercepting your messages if it successfully verifies.

Disappearing messages are important, because you might not actually be able to trust people who you trust.

clearspark.bsky.social•117 days ago

You should use contact links, because you then are supposed to reset them. This helps to prevent metadata leaking about who you talk to which can be used to incriminate you or justify surveiling you.

animaniac89.bsky.social•117 days ago

Thank you, I just screen capped your posts to go over when I have a free minute..

yodler.bsky.social•117 days ago

People worried need to literally just search the apps name + “scandal” or “leak” see of those three which you’re more comfortable with.

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