hi I'm new to this whole privacy stuff. Is anyone using Signal (messaging) APK? Is it advisable to read the entire privacy policy of apps that i use. I find it time consuming and confusing coz apps collect information about me from other sources too Is it necessary to protect my privacy? Should i start living like a hermit using a dumb phone or sending postal letters to communicate with others?
@cjleads hi welcome!
I think signal recently leaked user data.
The only ones I trust are p2p decentralized with encryption myself but that's just me 🤗📶
@TheDoctor @cjleads @Wetrix i've not heard of Signal directly leaking data, but leaks are incidental in all the dodgy surveillance capitalists Signal entails. More details here: https://github.com/privacytoolsIO/privacytools.io/issues/779
@resist1984 @cjleads @Wetrix I'm afraid I don't agree at all with the assessment in this post. Comparing signal with surveillance capitalism à la Facebook and Google hardly seems fair.
@TheDoctor @Wetrix @cjleads you have no choice but to agree with the facts - unless you have counter facts. OWS #Signal subjects users to a variety of surveillance capitalist mechanisms by forcing phone number registration & pushing Google Playstore (while hiding & discouraging apk downloads).. pushing #CloudFlare.. financing #Amazon.. working for #Facebook.
@resist1984 @Wetrix @cjleads I don't dispute those facts but there are reasons for that, not all of which are malicious. You don't have to use it if you don't like it but I still think some of these issues are overblown.
@TheDoctor @cjleads @Wetrix the problem is that the privacy abuses don't just affect the user b/c this is not a service that someone uses in a vaccuum. It's inherently collaborative. So one person's need to correspond with another entails pressure on others to participate in a centralized walled-garden that feeds pernicious entities. So it's important to discourage the spread of it.
@resist1984 @cjleads @Wetrix Yes I agree. Unfortunately, it's hard enough already to get people to even switch away from WhatsApp so I consider basically everything an improvement
@TheDoctor @Wetrix @cjleads Signal isn't a suitable intermediate step because it actually brings in many unnecessary surveillance mechanisms. If you need a middle step that works for low-tech users, #Wire & #Jami are a better choice b/c they do not impose phone number registration. They give an e2ee payload without excluding people who don't have mobile phones).
@resist1984
@TheDoctor @Wetrix @cjleads
My take is use #session msgr when its more mature. fork of #signal, uses signal #encryption, no #phone or #email required, #decentralised, #onion routed using #Loki network, no phone required for desktop, linkable to other devices for syncing