all the ones I chat to are on Signal but i went through this years ago, every time a contact sent me a txt message i sent a link to Signal and said see you there.
If that's the case, then i would be more happier to get their usernames atleast. But the situation is way worse than that. They are deeply into whatsapp.
If so, you can just not install WhatsApp. Smartphones allow them to install multiple communicating apps, so your friends could remember to use signal when talking to you.
Actually, deletion of whatsapp and instagram drastically decreased my friend circle. Now i have more time for myself. I don't think they have a reason to communicate with me. Anyway, am not installing whatsapp anymore.
I have notifications on when someone joins and maybe 75% of the time after I see the notification their account is "deleted" because they changed the privacy settings.
It's not the end of the world but I do wish more people wouldn't automatically pick the maximum privacy setting so that we could actually, yknow use it
Not really, it's still encrypted. If you're not a political dissident and just using Signal to chat with friends then it is helpful to make yourself available to said friends.
I have a handful of friends and family that did actually switch, but I still have a few stubborn friends on Discord that do t see the point. Just waiting for Discord to fuck up badly enough...
For as long as they type a message, hit send, and the other person receives, they'll keep on using it no matter what
Users are stubborn to change, they only really do when they can't do the basic thing
They dont know about any of that stuff and they don't wander in the public spaces of discord. I think forcing the ID on all users will do the trick. They just haven't enforced it yet.
I use Discord for work, and I use it only to communicate with specific people about specific things. Absolutely no need to go exploring whatever drek inhabits the rest of the service.
It really, reaally depends what public spaces you look for, personally, i didn't meet many strange people because i just keep myself away from those kind of spaces, though sometime you meet the wanky sheep but that's normal like on every other social and here on lemmy too
None of the things you said actually affect normal users. They don't see them or interact with them. So they literally do not matter at fucking all.
To a normal person if something isn't functionally punching them in the face actively right that second and causing them real physical pain and suffering.
It might as well not exist. No amounts of explanation, theoretically this or that, bad news or corruption. Makes anyone actually give two shits.
Those of us who actually care about things not actively hurting us in the moment. Are factually the out liers.
So one's friends become zoosadists - whatever that is - if they're chatting via discord?
The argument that there's creeps using a platform is moot if you're using it to communicate with your friends. Which is what people do. It's so weird to me, like, the same can be said about Signal etc etc but nooooo, there it's only the good ones chatting. Get outta here with this shit.
How do I put this, the fact that a platform may be used by unsavory characters in some specific capacity and context does not affect normal people who use it to communicate with friends - which is what chat apps were designed to do.
People use discord to talk to their friends while playing games. They use WhatsApp, signal, telegram and so on to text with friends. At least that's the primary usage.
Now if one were to venture out into the wild and start engaging with strange animal fuckers in obscure channels etc, that is something that doesn't play into the average user experience.
I started when it was still called TextSecure, I had precisely 1 contact (just my nerdy friend from uni) for the first 3 years. I then convinced my partner to install it, had 2 contacts for the next few years.
When it became Signal, a few more jumped on. Once I had kids; I bullied my family onto it, by refusing to send photos any other way.
I have 62 contacts now, the bulk of my digital communication is through either Signal, phone, email or Lemmy. There is a little SMS/RCS.
It has been a 15 year journey so far, for me. You will get there.
I've 36 contacts. I started 3 years ago.
In a country where people stare at me for solid 3-5 seconds before they utter a word when I tell them I don't ise whatsapp. Love it.
I'm actually surprised by how easily I was able to get my whole family and several friends on there, it's my main messaging platform now. The only others are sms and steam chat.
Same here, it turned out family and friends wanted to stay in touch! Not a real surprise, but for some reason I kept overthinking and delaying the process.. Once I just asked, all was done within like 20 mins. People made their accounts, I made the groups.
All the more motivation to encourage your friends to get on signal. I've had a discussion this week with someone, on fedi, who just can't conceive of getting off Meta products, like WhatSapp, because it has so much usage in Europe. Our work isn't done; not yet.
Generally that's not been my experience. Person to Person it's been pretty easy for the most part. I can think of one exception from the past decade, one of those "I just can't start using another app" sorts. YMMV. Persistence furthers.
When I switched to Signal I enforced it hard. Refused to talk to anyone on another platform. If they texted me, I'd responed, but always add "I'd prefer if we discussed this over Signal."
I had more success than I'd anticipated. About 90% of my family and 80% of my friends moved over.
My best piece of advice for this is to start new group chats - people want to be in the group chats, and if they believe Signal is where it's all happening, they'll join.
I'm on the receiving end of this from a friend and I didn't even think twice about it. I think we're all in a place now where being asked to install yet another app is pretty commonplace. Plus phone app stores make it relatively painless to do.
My mother in law actually surprised me by asking if the family group chat could switch to signal. I wasnt going to bother her about it because i assumed shed hate it since shes bad with technology. It was a pleasant surprise.
I have a Matrix server hosted with tons of cool plugins, bots, and settings to get it as close to Discord as possible. Can’t get anyone to use it lol. Don’t care. I’ll continue to pay for it for when we truly need it.
Fluxer does all that at this point. Matrix is basically a dead end project spinning it's wheels trying to endlessly be something that it's not. Undermining it self at every turn.
Matrix is just objectively fucked till it figures out the fuck it actually wants to be.
When you can just self host a fluxer instance you just have everything no bots scripts or bullshit needed.
I’m sure there are gaps in it, but the chat itself is encrypted. It’s still in flux before I try to get folks active in it, so I’m trialing a bunch of Maubot tools. It has URL previews, gifs—basic stuff.
I have two contacts. My wife, who I text/communicate with more than anyone else, and a long distance friend.
It took begging and pleading for years to get my wife to agree to it. She finally agreed after it came out that the phone network was likely hacked by China.
I tried to get another friend to use it, at whick point he asked if that was the app at the center of whiskey leaks. He never installed it.
after it came out that the phone network was likely hacked by China.
You're referring to the phone network in the USA, right? It blows my mind that more people don't know about it. China (specifically, Salt Typhoon) infiltrated the USA phone network in 2022. The infiltration was only discovered in 2024, and China still has not been evicted. Apparently the eviction will not be complete until compromised Huawei network hardware is extirpated.
Considering that PRISM is a thing, I think people already assume that all usage of the phone network is non-private. What difference does it make if China is reading my messages, when the USA already is, and the USA can actually arrest or murder me unlike China.
Yes I'm referring to Salt Typhoon. It is bonkers that this way, basically any phone/text conversation can be surveiled by not only the NSA, but by a foreign government.
I literally got Signal because my sister told me to get on it. That's the only contact I have on Signal.
When the Recent Fascist Takeover happened, an American friend asked me for app opinions - I told him Signal was great, aside of the fact that the desktop app keeps getting updated every femtosecond. ...we're still talking over Discord, sad to say.
Signal keeps suggesting I add a contact for my old boss. (Who was a cool guy, but not cool enough to keep in contact with years afterwards.) Actually, when I had an internship a few years afterwards, the new boss's preferred app was Telegram, so, uh, a red flag? ...Yeah, didn't get that job.
Which ones are you thinking of?
Out of the options I am aware of, Signal seems to be the most secure, most reliable, and most privacy respecting messaging app in this category.
I use deltachat/arcanechat. It uses the mailchat protocol. There's also tox, simplex, matrix, xmpp(conversations) these can do e2e, you can self host it or use a public server, everything distributed through app stores can be compromised. Every app were you rely on a central server can be shutdown. You also don't know how the server software works of for example "signal", what data they collect. Although messages are encrypted you can still log metadata like when where iplocation, with who?
The problem i guess with thr alternatives is bad service in terms of audio and video chat. The benefit of ms teams for example is their huge cdn. it just works nearly all over the world.
Whatsapp/discord is used by so many that it's difficult to stay in contact otherwise.
I've talked to a deltachat dev about this, and the signal protocol is simply technically superior to autocrypt (used by deltachat, etc.). It gives you many more guarantees about things like forward secrecy. There is standardization work to bring these benefits to autocrypt, but it will probably be a while. Signal also has the benefit of having a familiar setup for non-techy people, so it is easier to get people to use in my experience.
I use Signal, but still wouldn't mind adding more people to ArcaneChat because frankly, it's more fun. The "apps" functionality and the fact that it works over email protocol is like, fascinating to me. It feels almost like the good old days of Yahoo Messenger, but encrypted! Yay!
I think it'd still be fine to use for casual use. If OPSEC is ridiculously important, there's always Signal.
Have to admit, I also kinda hate seeing Signal show up in normiestream news more often lately. 😬
Used to recommend XMPP (lol) but even with whatever encryption the servers still know and control too much. Like who you are chatting with (entire contact book) and when, plus attachments most of the time. And there was also the jabber ru incident... Don't feel like pulling up the article rn but basically it got MITMed by one of the ISPs (counting the hosting provider as ISP), with a new valid TLS certificate and all.
Tox supermacy! What looser needs a backlog, pffff.
Basically, looking at history of federated messaging protocols (SMS and email), they are permanently frozen in time, and haven't had security improvements for decades.
Signal team considers this tradeoff unacceptable, as highly targeted individuals rely on Signal to always keep it's security model up-to-date against the most capable adversaries.
It used to be an SMS client too, to help get people on board. Now they expect you to either memorize which people use which protocols, or just use SMS.
It's not that difficult to remember which people use which messaging apps. I use Signal, Line, Whatsapp, Matrix, Telegram, heck even Instagram DMs with different people. I try to push people to Signal whenever I can though.
I always found SMS hard to use as it is annoyingly difficult to send and receive SMS messages with a computer. Basically every other messenger works on both phones and computers. (I really dislike using a phone when I'm sitting at a computer; a device with a keyboard, larger screen(s), and the ability to easily use multiple programs at once.)
I made a stoat account to escape discord with a few friends and this image is exactly what happened. Majority of people we know aren't inconvenienced enough to move on.
For a while, it was just my one buddy I convinced to use it and I, but then I got hired at a new company and hit it off with the resident cybersec OG! Having Signal ready to rock gave a great first impression :)
Typical security advice is to turn off "find me by my number" in the Signal security settings. You may well have friends who use Signal, but have turned that setting off. You may consider turning it off yourself. Also, you should turn off "see my number" on the same settings screen.
I completely ditched WhatsApp, I have more than 20 contacts on Signal including my parents (70+) and my work chat of 8 people. I live in Germany where people tend to be very privacy focused, but we are getting there!
If only you could also text from the Signal App. I used to have multiple signal contacts, but every single one of them dropped it when they dropped SMS support.
Did using signal with the old SMS feature privided any additional level of privacy or security? Means, no matter what all the SMS are unencrypted and goes through ISP right?
Then they ask me back, "What's the point of stopping one threat when thousands of ways exist to track them?"
From my personal research, I found that their messaging tool of choice is not only linked to privacy and security but also some features like status, stories, and the app design. Primarily the popularity and slop.
It is actually useful if you use Signal as an app for one group of people like friends or family because you get a different icon popup when you receive a message and you instantly know who it is from
data using any kind of phone number anywhere. i still dont understand how people who are living across the world from eachother do not make use of this software.
150 Comments
First_Thunder@lemmy.zip · 184 pts · 1d
Your communications can’t be compromised if you don’t communicate lol
Bipauler@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 15h
late_pessimistic@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 11h
Having friends is bad OPSEC!
ViatorOmnium@piefed.social · 106 pts · 1d
Supreme privacy. Two can only keep a secret if one of them is dead.
mountainRadish@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1d
I have two contacts
hanrahan@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 20h
all the ones I chat to are on Signal but i went through this years ago, every time a contact sent me a txt message i sent a link to Signal and said see you there.
Venator@lemmy.nz · 2 pts · 22h
Both are dead?
Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world · 82 pts · 1d
onipa@feddit.org · 5 pts · 1d
you're not ungrateful and deceitful
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1d
so meta
sculptor0725@sh.itjust.works · 52 pts · 1d
Maybe all your contacts also value their privacy and therefore have not set signal to allow them to be discovered by their phone number
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 20 pts · 1d
If that's the case, then i would be more happier to get their usernames atleast. But the situation is way worse than that. They are deeply into whatsapp.
takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 16h
Do they have a need to communicate with you?
If so, you can just not install WhatsApp. Smartphones allow them to install multiple communicating apps, so your friends could remember to use signal when talking to you.
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 14h
Actually, deletion of whatsapp and instagram drastically decreased my friend circle. Now i have more time for myself. I don't think they have a reason to communicate with me. Anyway, am not installing whatsapp anymore.
Kirk@startrek.website · 12 pts · 1d
I have notifications on when someone joins and maybe 75% of the time after I see the notification their account is "deleted" because they changed the privacy settings.
It's not the end of the world but I do wish more people wouldn't automatically pick the maximum privacy setting so that we could actually, yknow use it
Holytimes@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1d
Not picking the max privacy setting defeats the point of using it for privacy.
Classic catch 22!
Kirk@startrek.website · 3 pts · 20h
Not really, it's still encrypted. If you're not a political dissident and just using Signal to chat with friends then it is helpful to make yourself available to said friends.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1d
i'd say default to maximum and then opt in to less and less privacy
TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 7 pts · 1d
Guilty
superglue@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 27 pts · 1d
I have a handful of friends and family that did actually switch, but I still have a few stubborn friends on Discord that do t see the point. Just waiting for Discord to fuck up badly enough...
TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 22 pts · 1d
I have 1 friend who I talk to exclusively over discord DMs.
The server went down for about 6 hours when we were chatting and he made a signal account.
Then he deleted it after the outage 😭
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 1d
Discord not even letting me to creare an account. The OTP never get generated. And i believe that's for good.
Many open-source developers also effectively using discord as a communication medium.
wesker@lemmy.sdf.org · 4 pts · 1d
Discord is already a haven for groomers, zoosadists, and more. Not sure what levels of "fucking up" they'd need to do, to get normies to bail.
AkatsukiLevi@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1d
For as long as they type a message, hit send, and the other person receives, they'll keep on using it no matter what Users are stubborn to change, they only really do when they can't do the basic thing
superglue@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 1d
They dont know about any of that stuff and they don't wander in the public spaces of discord. I think forcing the ID on all users will do the trick. They just haven't enforced it yet.
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 0 pts · 1d
Which is very wise.
I use Discord for work, and I use it only to communicate with specific people about specific things. Absolutely no need to go exploring whatever drek inhabits the rest of the service.
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it · 2 pts · 1d
It really, reaally depends what public spaces you look for, personally, i didn't meet many strange people because i just keep myself away from those kind of spaces, though sometime you meet the wanky sheep but that's normal like on every other social and here on lemmy too
Holytimes@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 1d
None of the things you said actually affect normal users. They don't see them or interact with them. So they literally do not matter at fucking all.
To a normal person if something isn't functionally punching them in the face actively right that second and causing them real physical pain and suffering.
It might as well not exist. No amounts of explanation, theoretically this or that, bad news or corruption. Makes anyone actually give two shits.
Those of us who actually care about things not actively hurting us in the moment. Are factually the out liers.
Ougie@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1d
So one's friends become zoosadists - whatever that is - if they're chatting via discord?
The argument that there's creeps using a platform is moot if you're using it to communicate with your friends. Which is what people do. It's so weird to me, like, the same can be said about Signal etc etc but nooooo, there it's only the good ones chatting. Get outta here with this shit.
wesker@lemmy.sdf.org · 1 pts · 18h
I honestly have no idea how you deduced that this was what I was saying.
Ougie@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 16h
How do I put this, the fact that a platform may be used by unsavory characters in some specific capacity and context does not affect normal people who use it to communicate with friends - which is what chat apps were designed to do. People use discord to talk to their friends while playing games. They use WhatsApp, signal, telegram and so on to text with friends. At least that's the primary usage. Now if one were to venture out into the wild and start engaging with strange animal fuckers in obscure channels etc, that is something that doesn't play into the average user experience.
MML@sh.itjust.works · 22 pts · 19h
I got all my friends to switch to signal!
craftrabbit@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 16h
I'm still working on that, but progress is happening
MML@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 15h
I just don't have any friends
Lithops@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 1d
At least i got 3 people to install Signal just for me.
edgyspazkid@lemmy.wtf · 10 pts · 1d
I got family, 2 friends and thats it.
Lithops@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 1d
And thats all you need. I also have family, 2 good friends and the rest are acquaintances
absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz · 19 pts · 22h
I started when it was still called TextSecure, I had precisely 1 contact (just my nerdy friend from uni) for the first 3 years. I then convinced my partner to install it, had 2 contacts for the next few years.
When it became Signal, a few more jumped on. Once I had kids; I bullied my family onto it, by refusing to send photos any other way.
I have 62 contacts now, the bulk of my digital communication is through either Signal, phone, email or Lemmy. There is a little SMS/RCS.
It has been a 15 year journey so far, for me. You will get there.
Typotyper@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 21h
What if I'm in my 50s and i don't have half that number of contacts anywhere. Will I still get there.
And if those 30ish contacts find me on signal, where am I supposed to go and hide next.
Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 18h
I'm sure some genius has made a texting protocol that requires installing Linux and can only be utilized by console with sudo access.
You can finally get some peace and quiet.
Except from fucking Phil. That guy is the worst.
hancock@retrolemmy.com · 4 pts · 20h
I've 36 contacts. I started 3 years ago. In a country where people stare at me for solid 3-5 seconds before they utter a word when I tell them I don't ise whatsapp. Love it.
We'll get there.
electric_nan@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 17h
OG here too. I remember when they first supported voice calls. It was a separate app called redphone.
M137@lemmy.today · 15 pts · 1d
I'm actually surprised by how easily I was able to get my whole family and several friends on there, it's my main messaging platform now. The only others are sms and steam chat.
manuremy@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 23h
Same here, it turned out family and friends wanted to stay in touch! Not a real surprise, but for some reason I kept overthinking and delaying the process.. Once I just asked, all was done within like 20 mins. People made their accounts, I made the groups.
Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io · 14 pts · 1d
All the more motivation to encourage your friends to get on signal. I've had a discussion this week with someone, on fedi, who just can't conceive of getting off Meta products, like WhatSapp, because it has so much usage in Europe. Our work isn't done; not yet.
merc@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 1d
That person doesn't need to leave WhatsApp completely right away. They can just talk to some people on Signal and others on WhatsApp.
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 1d
It's very hard to convince people to switch to privacy foucused platforms nowadays.
Toasticus@piefed.social · 3 pts · 13h
It's just hard to convince people to try alternatives at all. Once they've dug deep into something they want to use, they won't budge.
Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io · 2 pts · 1d
Generally that's not been my experience. Person to Person it's been pretty easy for the most part. I can think of one exception from the past decade, one of those "I just can't start using another app" sorts. YMMV. Persistence furthers.
wesker@lemmy.sdf.org · 12 pts · 1d
There's a CLI which is nice. I use it to communicate with my self-hosted personal assistant, while I'm on the go.
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de · 6 pts · 1d
Official CLI or a third party client?
wesker@lemmy.sdf.org · 10 pts · 1d
third party https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli
iknewitwhenisawit@fedinsfw.app · 2 pts · 1d
Cool!
I've been using Telegram for such notifications just because is actually seems to support them. This seems like it will do what I need!
merc@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1d
By "self-hosted personal assistant" you mean LLM?
wesker@lemmy.sdf.org · 1 pts · 1d
No.
merc@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 1d
You mean a secretary who lives at your house?
wesker@lemmy.sdf.org · 5 pts · 1d
The hay day of PDAs must have been really confusing for you.
merc@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 1d
I'm not sure what public displays of affection have to do with anything.
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it · 5 pts · 1d
I am sure they talk about this, or smth similiar https://www.home-assistant.io/
plant@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 1d
I was not alive for this
recklessengagement@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 20h
When I switched to Signal I enforced it hard. Refused to talk to anyone on another platform. If they texted me, I'd responed, but always add "I'd prefer if we discussed this over Signal."
I had more success than I'd anticipated. About 90% of my family and 80% of my friends moved over.
My best piece of advice for this is to start new group chats - people want to be in the group chats, and if they believe Signal is where it's all happening, they'll join.
bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 19h
It was way easier to get converts when it still supported SMS/MMS
dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 17h
I'm on the receiving end of this from a friend and I didn't even think twice about it. I think we're all in a place now where being asked to install yet another app is pretty commonplace. Plus phone app stores make it relatively painless to do.
pommes@feddit.org · 12 pts · 14h
So what? That’s peak privacy.
adhdsergio@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 11h
Technically correct ✅
KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 12 pts · 1d
I saw my mom's Signal today.. Only me 😅
dragonlover@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 1d
My mother in law actually surprised me by asking if the family group chat could switch to signal. I wasnt going to bother her about it because i assumed shed hate it since shes bad with technology. It was a pleasant surprise.
PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de · 8 pts · 1d
I have friends who refuse to install Signal despite having 10+ friends who I know use it. Big ups to ur mom
Blackmist@feddit.uk · 12 pts · 10h
Nothing more private than that.
orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts · 12 pts · 1d
I have a Matrix server hosted with tons of cool plugins, bots, and settings to get it as close to Discord as possible. Can’t get anyone to use it lol. Don’t care. I’ll continue to pay for it for when we truly need it.
merc@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 1d
What I want out of a Discord-a-like:
Do your bots and plugins make that possible?
Holytimes@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1d
Fluxer does all that at this point. Matrix is basically a dead end project spinning it's wheels trying to endlessly be something that it's not. Undermining it self at every turn.
Matrix is just objectively fucked till it figures out the fuck it actually wants to be.
When you can just self host a fluxer instance you just have everything no bots scripts or bullshit needed.
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it · 2 pts · 1d
Matrix is not trying to be discord or whatever, the users try though, it's pretty much not a dead project and very useful for whoever just want a chat
Reality@feddit.org · 4 pts · 1d
Tell us about the plugins and bots. Does it all work with encryption?
orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts · 1 pts · 1d
I’m sure there are gaps in it, but the chat itself is encrypted. It’s still in flux before I try to get folks active in it, so I’m trialing a bunch of Maubot tools. It has URL previews, gifs—basic stuff.
HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com · 10 pts · 20h
I have two contacts. My wife, who I text/communicate with more than anyone else, and a long distance friend.
It took begging and pleading for years to get my wife to agree to it. She finally agreed after it came out that the phone network was likely hacked by China.
I tried to get another friend to use it, at whick point he asked if that was the app at the center of whiskey leaks. He never installed it.
nanometer1625@thelemmy.club · 6 pts · 17h
You're referring to the phone network in the USA, right? It blows my mind that more people don't know about it. China (specifically, Salt Typhoon) infiltrated the USA phone network in 2022. The infiltration was only discovered in 2024, and China still has not been evicted. Apparently the eviction will not be complete until compromised Huawei network hardware is extirpated.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 16h
Considering that PRISM is a thing, I think people already assume that all usage of the phone network is non-private. What difference does it make if China is reading my messages, when the USA already is, and the USA can actually arrest or murder me unlike China.
HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com · 2 pts · 11h
Yes I'm referring to Salt Typhoon. It is bonkers that this way, basically any phone/text conversation can be surveiled by not only the NSA, but by a foreign government.
umbraroze@slrpnk.net · 10 pts · 17h
I literally got Signal because my sister told me to get on it. That's the only contact I have on Signal.
When the Recent Fascist Takeover happened, an American friend asked me for app opinions - I told him Signal was great, aside of the fact that the desktop app keeps getting updated every femtosecond. ...we're still talking over Discord, sad to say.
Signal keeps suggesting I add a contact for my old boss. (Who was a cool guy, but not cool enough to keep in contact with years afterwards.) Actually, when I had an internship a few years afterwards, the new boss's preferred app was Telegram, so, uh, a red flag? ...Yeah, didn't get that job.
SethTaylor@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 23h
Sounds like it worked
Agent641@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 20h
Lemmy memes signal groupchat when?
DM me for invite. You can trust me. I'm Agent641
bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 19h
Found Kegseth's alt
Agent641@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 19h
C'mon bro, we're clean on opsec bro, join the group bro!
Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 18h
Totally bombing Oman later Bro! Still down for Golden Corral?
bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 18h
That's hilarious but I could actually really go for some chicken-fried steak rn
Ozymati@lemmy.nz · 8 pts · 21h
You can contact me on signal. I mean, I probably won't respond. But you can.
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 20h
😅
MadameBisaster@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 8 pts · 17h
Add my number so tht you have one contact
06769666
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 17h
Which country number is this? 😂
MadameBisaster@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 8 pts · 15h
The country that will never give you up
djhandsome@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 1d
Why do people use signal? It has one centralized server and phone number registration. There are many better alternatives.
Logical@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 23h
Which ones are you thinking of? Out of the options I am aware of, Signal seems to be the most secure, most reliable, and most privacy respecting messaging app in this category.
drath@lemmy.drath.ru · 2 pts · 9h
Session, simplex, deltachat
djhandsome@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 23h
I use deltachat/arcanechat. It uses the mailchat protocol. There's also tox, simplex, matrix, xmpp(conversations) these can do e2e, you can self host it or use a public server, everything distributed through app stores can be compromised. Every app were you rely on a central server can be shutdown. You also don't know how the server software works of for example "signal", what data they collect. Although messages are encrypted you can still log metadata like when where iplocation, with who?
The problem i guess with thr alternatives is bad service in terms of audio and video chat. The benefit of ms teams for example is their huge cdn. it just works nearly all over the world. Whatsapp/discord is used by so many that it's difficult to stay in contact otherwise.
coffee_tacos@mander.xyz · 4 pts · 21h
I've talked to a deltachat dev about this, and the signal protocol is simply technically superior to autocrypt (used by deltachat, etc.). It gives you many more guarantees about things like forward secrecy. There is standardization work to bring these benefits to autocrypt, but it will probably be a while. Signal also has the benefit of having a familiar setup for non-techy people, so it is easier to get people to use in my experience.
djhandsome@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 17h
Interesting. Ease of use is one thing but requiring a phone number or email to setup an account is in my opinion annoying.
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 13h
That's really insightful!
I use Signal, but still wouldn't mind adding more people to ArcaneChat because frankly, it's more fun. The "apps" functionality and the fact that it works over email protocol is like, fascinating to me. It feels almost like the good old days of Yahoo Messenger, but encrypted! Yay!
I think it'd still be fine to use for casual use. If OPSEC is ridiculously important, there's always Signal.
Have to admit, I also kinda hate seeing Signal show up in normiestream news more often lately. 😬
diaphragmwp@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 22h
Used to recommend XMPP (lol) but even with whatever encryption the servers still know and control too much. Like who you are chatting with (entire contact book) and when, plus attachments most of the time. And there was also the jabber ru incident... Don't feel like pulling up the article rn but basically it got MITMed by one of the ISPs (counting the hosting provider as ISP), with a new valid TLS certificate and all.
Tox supermacy! What looser needs a backlog, pffff.
late_pessimistic@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 11h
Signal people have already explained why they refuse federation.
Basically, looking at history of federated messaging protocols (SMS and email), they are permanently frozen in time, and haven't had security improvements for decades.
Signal team considers this tradeoff unacceptable, as highly targeted individuals rely on Signal to always keep it's security model up-to-date against the most capable adversaries.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1d
It used to be an SMS client too, to help get people on board. Now they expect you to either memorize which people use which protocols, or just use SMS.
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 23h
Don't use SMS. As it is unencrypted, the ISP have complete access over it.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 18h
"And that's why I won't be getting dental work here anymore!"
randint@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz · 1 pts · 23h
It's not that difficult to remember which people use which messaging apps. I use Signal, Line, Whatsapp, Matrix, Telegram, heck even Instagram DMs with different people. I try to push people to Signal whenever I can though.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 23h
Yes it absolutely is! I just use Signal and SMS, and the Signal users seem to be dwindling.
RamRabbit@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 5h
I always found SMS hard to use as it is annoyingly difficult to send and receive SMS messages with a computer. Basically every other messenger works on both phones and computers. (I really dislike using a phone when I'm sitting at a computer; a device with a keyboard, larger screen(s), and the ability to easily use multiple programs at once.)
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 23h
Stop using SMS.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 18h
"I shall never again get my car serviced here, for you refuse to upgrade messaging protocols!"
0x0@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 21h
As usual with social interactions, it's the network effect.
Stolas@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 9h
I made a stoat account to escape discord with a few friends and this image is exactly what happened. Majority of people we know aren't inconvenienced enough to move on.
Pat@feddit.nu · 7 pts · 1d
Only reason I managed to get everyone on Signal was because... uhh... Skype shut down. Yes, we used it to the end.
Godric@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 18h
For a while, it was just my one buddy I convinced to use it and I, but then I got hired at a new company and hit it off with the resident cybersec OG! Having Signal ready to rock gave a great first impression :)
Nonprophet@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 11h
::Pete Hegseth has entered the chat::
adhdsergio@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 11h
And made it public
electric_nan@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 15h
Typical security advice is to turn off "find me by my number" in the Signal security settings. You may well have friends who use Signal, but have turned that setting off. You may consider turning it off yourself. Also, you should turn off "see my number" on the same settings screen.
lokalhorst@feddit.org · 5 pts · 1d
I completely ditched WhatsApp, I have more than 20 contacts on Signal including my parents (70+) and my work chat of 8 people. I live in Germany where people tend to be very privacy focused, but we are getting there!
tlaloc@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1d
Wish more in my circle would embrace Signal. iMessage and WhatsApp are the default messaging apps. Of the three, Signal is far better imo
Jolteon@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 7h
If only you could also text from the Signal App. I used to have multiple signal contacts, but every single one of them dropped it when they dropped SMS support.
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 7h
Which means they actually didn't use signal at all.
They used SMS and are still continuing using SMS.
Jolteon@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 7h
Yes, but their communications with me and each other were secure, which is a lot better than they're doing now.
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 7h
Did using signal with the old SMS feature privided any additional level of privacy or security? Means, no matter what all the SMS are unencrypted and goes through ISP right?
Jolteon@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 5h
Not if you were using SMS, but it automatically upgraded connections to secure chats if both people had signal.
BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 4h
The point was to have all your messaging needs in one package.
Zacryon@feddit.org · 5 pts · 9h
Privacy by design.
Banana@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 11h
I actually have my main groupchat on signal, but I think that has more to do with having friends that do drugs than anything else.
Almacca@aussie.zone · 4 pts · 6h
I had a contact that wouldn't use Signal as he thought it wasn't private enough, and recommended Sessions, but would never respond to any messages.
Ironically, I only went to that because I ditched Facebook and Messenger, which he was fine using. :rolleyes:
x7HlPDq9dSNO6v3A9@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 20h
I love Session messenger as a decentralised solution, but man it sucks how little people want to change their habits
rumba@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 9h
If you want to sell private communication tools, just tell people that the creepy ads they see when talking about certain topics will stop appearing.
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 7h
Then they ask me back, "What's the point of stopping one threat when thousands of ways exist to track them?"
From my personal research, I found that their messaging tool of choice is not only linked to privacy and security but also some features like status, stories, and the app design. Primarily the popularity and slop.
rumba@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 6h
Look em dead in the eye, say: well if you dont mind the invasive ads, who am I to judge?
iatenine@piefed.social · 3 pts · 1d
Success!
Leviathan@fedinsfw.app · 3 pts · 19h
I (maybe a bit forcibly) got all my bands and family to switch to signal. It's not easy but it's possible.
idealpink@feddit.nu · 3 pts · 10h
Matrix with bridges has been good for me. Keep all normies and slowly over time convert
IndustryStandard@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 22h
It is actually useful if you use Signal as an app for one group of people like friends or family because you get a different icon popup when you receive a message and you instantly know who it is from
crypt0cler1c@infosec.pub · 4 pts · 21h
Bruh
IndustryStandard@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 21h
It is really handy not sure what the bruh is for. Even for one friend or family group.
crypt0cler1c@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 19h
Always look on the bright side of life, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo 🎶
Rooster326@programming.dev · 3 pts · 20h
I instantly know who my texts are from because it says their name. 🤔
IndustryStandard@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 12h
Having a different icon is much faster. You can see it by color alone.. Those who know know.
Rooster326@programming.dev · 1 pts · 11h
And those who are color blind Don't.
Yaky@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 20h
As a software developer, this has got to be one of the most original unintended usage scenarios / reasons.
No amount of planning or testing in software will prepare you for ways users will actually use it.
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 13h
Yeah I only use Signal for people I actually want to have a direct line to me.
SMS is my "I might answer if I see it" protocol. If someone decides we're close enough for serious chatting, we can do it encrypted. XD
zitrone@europe.pub · 2 pts · 4h
i've got ~140 contacts on signal
i don't know all of them, probably like 50 are from groups i am part of
owl@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 2h
Very private 💪
Rusty@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 21h
I tried to convince my friends and family to switch to Tox 10 years ago. Noone wanted to add contacts by adding public keys.
beejboytyson@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 20h
Shhh signal as ez as it gets
BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 14h
It's great for talking to my friends out of country instead of stupid WhatsApp, but I got some weird messages on there.
A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl · 2 pts · 2h
Empty bar problem.
CalypsoGirl@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 1d
Same 😥
Smoogs@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 19h
data using any kind of phone number anywhere. i still dont understand how people who are living across the world from eachother do not make use of this software.