Also, #Signal and #Telegram are said to be flooded with new users.
I'm both glad and unglad to hear that.
Signal is fully end-to-end encrypted ( #E2EE ), so that's better than all other #corpocentric alternatives, but: * they are centralized * they collect data such as telephone number (can't use it without giving said info) * I haven't used it, but I hear their video and audio calls are poor quality
Telegram has optional E2EE on certain types of communications. * I believe their encryption is home-grown, so not battle-tested like professional algorithms. * They are centralized
Anything is better than using any product or service owned by Facebook, so I'm glad to see the outmigration, but not glad that other centralized services are the main beneficiaries.
@geniusmusing If they're just grabbing unencrypted data at rest, then they should have already been grabbing #Signal (and #Telegram, #WhatsApp, and any other program that encrypts end-to-end, stores encrypted, and then decrypts when the user unlocks the program) data assuming that the user was logged into the app when the cops seized the phone.
Of course, it could just be that the vendor is trying to spook users into switching to something less secure, where they really can grab their data.
I assume that Snowden knows quite a bit more than I do about this subject, but I really can't expect that he's been able to keep updated with the capabilities of Cellebrite and similar companies from his refuge in #Russia.
But I don't object to others choosing such end-to-end encrypted messengers over messaging apps such as (for example) #Facebook_Messenger.
I personally use #Wire, #XMPP, #Matrix, and #WickrMe. (I tried #Jami, but it wasn't very usable yet; none of my contacts were willing to try #Tox or #Briar.) I've even considered getting a Google account again so I can use whatever their latest incarnation of messaging is (just because almost everyone I know has a Google account).
It does bother me that Signal and Telegram and most other messaging services are centralized and non-federated.
It seems we haven't learned from the 1990s & early 2000s when some friends had AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), some had MSN Messenger, some had Yahoo Messenger, some had ICQ, and a few had various other walled garden messengers (such as Excite's messenger). If I wanted to talk with all my friends, I needed to have accounts on every possible service. I should be able to communicate with my friends from whatever service I choose to use to whatever services they choose to use and not have to create accounts on every possible service.
But that's a matter of educating our friends and family, not of dogmatically refusing to communicate with them on any service they might use.
Do your contacts a favour and make yourself available on Signal and / or Telegram today so THEY can switch
The irony of it is many people say they can't switch away from Whatsapp as "their contacts are not there". But if they are also not there, their contacts don't switch. With today's phones and push notifications, you can easily have five or more instant messengers running with no negative effect. So why do so many people only sit on Whatsapp which will not let its desktop app run without the active presence of the mobile phone (bad luck on Whatsapp if your phone battery is flat or you lose the phone)? Telegram, for example, allows way bigger groups and better group management, as well as better bot ability from applications.
Do your friends a favour and load another alternative messenger or tow on your phone today!
WhatsApp will get a name change alongside Instagram to make it clear that the companies are owned by Facebook. The rebranded apps will now be called “Instagram from Facebook” and “WhatsApp from Facebook.” Bloomberg reports that the move is controversial because both of the apps were born outside of Facebook, have very different corporate cu...
Muahahahaha! Apocalypse is here! Because it affects not only Telegram (which BTW is still AVAILABLE), but also banks, shops systems, etc. Waiting for traffic control to be also affected. IDK why, but this will be uberfunny (not for drivers of course).
@thelovebug@micro.thelovebug.org Btw late answer to #XMPP (jabber) vs. #Telegram: you can't run your own Telegram node, server software is closed source and it doesn't federate == vendor lock-in. XMPP is still the monarch in IM kingdom.
XMPP can do all those things, has really good clients and you can - as opposed to #Telegram - !selfhost with maintained network reach. Are you on XMPP too, @yvolk? (then feel free to add me on mmn@hethane.se .D)