cross-posted from: https://piefed.ca/c/canada/p/727265/signal-to-ottawa-we-ll-leave-canada-before-we-help-you-spy-on-users
Signal is drawing a hard line on the federal government’s proposed surveillance legislation: comply with Bill C-22 or leave the country. The secure messaging app says it would rather ditch the Canadian market than be forced to weaken the privacy protections it has built its reputation on. In an interview with The Globe and Mail
47 Comments
umbrella@lemmy.ml · 91 pts · 94d
neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 55 pts · 94d
If they left the Canadian market, what’s preventing Canadians from still using it?
funkforager@sh.itjust.works · 63 pts · 94d
The Canada-region app stores like Apple or Android would be unwilling to let you download the app if the law passes. So without sideloading, it just wouldn’t be accessible.
Delilah@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 132 pts · 94d
And by side loading you mean installing software on a device you own, like PCs have been forever. Side loading is a 100% bullshit term created by Apple and Google to try and make sure you don't think you actually own your devices
akilou@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 94d
Ok, I'm on board. So like what do we call installing an app outside of a store?
root@aussie.zone · 16 pts · 94d
Installing a downloaded application.
Delilah@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 9 pts · 94d
Installing for short
Redjard@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 94d
Installing an apk, installing directly, ...
As opposed to installing from Fdroid, from gplay, ...
You can also go by source, like with the stores. For example Signal android can be installed from their website (by downloading an apk).
Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 0 pts · 94d
That’s factually not true though. Side loading was a term used before Google was even a company and before devices had internet access or peripherals/accessories to directly connect media other than plugging into your computer. Before devices had internet and you had to plug them into your computer to transfer files and install non-stock software. They would just say unauthorized or unofficial software if side loading wasn’t a term. It’s not like they need that term to exist for their shit behavior.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 20 pts · 94d
It's not sideloading.
ghodawalaaman@programming.dev · 3 pts · 92d
we called it installing in our days
eldavi@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 92d
installing and Installing^TM^ have become different things and the people who grew up on mobile devices never installed anything but they did Install^TM^ plenty.
adespoton@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 94d
Am I the only one who has app store accounts for multiple regions?
But actually, if this happens (and it won’t, at least this time), the next bill to go through would have to be for the right to sideload. Because all of the politicians use Signal and would need a way to install it.
asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 94d
Any reason Signal couldn't offer a web app client?
egsaqmojz@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 94d
cuz they dont store msgs on a server. feature, not a bug
asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 94d
Web browsers have a local storage API.
Rat_in_a_hat@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 93d
Signal mentioned that their apps were best for security and a web browser had too many vulnerabilities that they couldn't guarantee.
They prefer to manage their own apps - a signal desktop app being one of them.
eldavi@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 92d
i'll never cease to be amazed how much sideloading has become synonymous with obscurity at best and app-death at the worst.
quick_snail@feddit.nl · -9 pts · 94d
Or people could just install it from fdroid.
Oh wait, signal isn't FOSS so it isn't allowed on fdroid.
CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone · 13 pts · 94d
Molly is on fdroid I believe
Ash37970244@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 94d
Yep and Molly is even better :)
quick_snail@feddit.nl · 3 pts · 94d
Not the official repo...because they couldn't meet it's acceptance criteria. Which is a red flag
ruplicant@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 94d
I think it used to, but unfortunely Molly is not on Fdroid's repo. You can download it from the app, but you'd need to add Molly's repo
theherk@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 94d
https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android AGPL
quick_snail@feddit.nl · 1 pts · 94d
Lol no.
Download the apk. It includes that AGPL and also non free blobs. Just because part of if is Foss does not make if foss
theherk@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 94d
Nothing to laugh at here in my view. It is FOSS. The reason it isn’t on there is sort of procedural. You could easily build signal from source, but signal prefers only their builds connect to their servers. They of course can’t enforce this but fdroid is happy to do so.
root@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 94d
I get it from FDroid via the Guardian repo. No issues.
quick_snail@feddit.nl · 2 pts · 94d
Security issues. guardian repo has no acceptances criteria. Closed source blobs? Allowed.
ItJustDonn@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 94d
what about Molly, then?
quick_snail@feddit.nl · -6 pts · 94d
Molly is Foss, but it's not on fdroid for likely other sketchy reasons
eodur@piefed.social · 7 pts · 94d
Its on Accrescent though
TiredTiger@lemmy.ml · 6 pts · 94d
You can import the repo into F-Droid.
quick_snail@feddit.nl · -1 pts · 94d
...and make yourself less secure, sure
racoon@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 94d
ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 94d
Well unless they want to add verified APKs of all the apps I do use to their app store, their frowning is useless because every graphene user basically needs f-droid as it stands now.
quick_snail@feddit.nl · -1 pts · 93d
And we frown upon grapheneOS because of numerous human concerns
sekurious@lemmy.nz · 18 pts · 94d
I think they can use the VPN to get access to it. It’s a way to make sure governments doesn’t exert too much pressure to give up data!
Rat_in_a_hat@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 94d
True, until VPNs are also banned (like some US states are doing). One anti-privacy law passed will bring up another, then another, then another.
SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 93d
This is one of the things that bugs me.
If you're in Country A, with all your operations in Country A, and what you do is legal in Country A, why should you give a single fuck about Country B's laws?
Seems to me the appropriate answer is basically to do what The Pirate Bay did with DMCA notices- respond that your laws don't apply to us as we have nothing to do with your country, and if your citizens use our software that's between you and them. It's not our job to enforce your laws on your citizens.
racoon@lemmy.ml · 21 pts · 94d
the_strange@feddit.org · 14 pts · 94d
OpenKeychain has an implementation like this (not 100%) maybe that fits your use case?
https://www.openkeychain.org/
CodeAssembler@lemmy.ml · 11 pts · 94d
It is a bit tedious but works: https://fdroid.gitlab.io/jekyll-fdroid/packages/com.amnesica.kryptey/
Edit: Just saw that the last update was 3 years ago, just keep that in mind. I think for some situations it is still useful and can be used, as the encryption and key-exchange seems to be solid.
daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 11 pts · 94d
Look up oversec.io
It basically uses android accessibility features to both encrypt and decrypt messages.
ghodawalaaman@programming.dev · 1 pts · 92d
I couldnt find the source code. is it foss?
daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 92d
https://github.com/oversecio/oversec
It was last updated 7 years ago.
So it's open source but outdated.
NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 94d
Pretty sure I read stories in the past of Google or someone like them banning people who were sending pre encrypted messages over one of their chat services.
racoon@lemmy.ml · 9 pts · 94d
NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 94d
A computer was anyway. These services arent necessarily reading our messages personally, but the algorithms parse them for ad placements or whatever, and it probably got flagged as being unreadable.
Edit: Some services that arent intending to be secure chat might not like the idea of encrypted content on their system either. What is it? What are they now harboring which wasn't their intent at all? Like if you made a lemmy community and only had encrypted messages on it, a mod from the server might have something to say about it.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 94d
They still ban you now and then, if you encrypyt to their drive.
RVGamer06@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 94d
Oversec is like that, but IIRC it doesn't work correctly on the latest versions of android
dltk@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 93d
Legislators who try to make such laws should be summarily executed.