This is a bad thing. Please do not try to rationalize it and say that it is a good thing.
It's a good thing as it encourages the public to use Hexbear, the last bastion of free speech on the internet.
I can, and will: signal is a CIA honeypot. Do not ask me to explain because I can't, and won't
I'll change my tune as soon as WeChat implements end-to-end encryption and Weibo implements ActivityPub.
The unlimited glory of China saves the day again :xi-shining:
It's a good thing. It's literally a honeypot. Our intelligence agency uses it for communication (or at least broadcasts that it does publicly to gain support for it).
https://twitter.com/chenweihua/status/1371849619416682501
Chen seems to disagree
I don’t think Signal itself (as a protocol and encryption scheme) is an op. The app may be, though.
I do think intelligence agencies promote it because it doesn’t aggressively protect against side-channel attacks (like keyloggers and message exfiltration if you have physical access to the device).
I can’t completely discount the possibility that they may be paying Moxie to downplay the likelihood of things like backdoored keyboard apps. The way the app is designed necessitates a lot of user vigilance in order to protect your identity and communication (up to and including getting a fake phone number not tied to your real identity in any way) but that all depends on your threat model. Signal gets me away from Facebook, isn’t trivially intercepted like SMS, and is something other people will actually use, so I keep using it, I just don’t expect complete secrecy or anonymity when doing so.
That's a cool emoji. I think this might be my favorite cover of that book
Well, until Matrix becomes as user-friendly as Signal, and until Matrix becomes as good at hiding metadata as Signal, there really isn't a better encrypted chat app.
Matrix uses encryption developed by us state funded grants, they're an op!!!! /s
looks up from pages of scribbled notes Holy shit. You won't believe what I just found out about the internet
The internet connection of it, maybe as it uses TOR but Bluetooth and LAN connection? I doubt that is possible at a wide deployment right now.
What the fuck is Signal? Back in my day the only “signals” we had were smoke signals, and that’s what I still use today to keep the radiation from turning my brain into a liberal.
