@debacle that's about right! As to servers/relays: there are a lot of well working alternative stacks -- #chatmail core even runs with some #Plan9 mail server stack apart from the many classic email server implementations. Replacing Rust Core is possible but considerable work. Beating its maturity and cross-platform portability would require a serious effort. Not impossible, though. FWIW most other messenger projects (#Signal, #matrix, etc.) are trying to move towards Rust.
our friends over at @rpgp just published a monster milestone, humbly tagged 0.16 😍 with
- streaming decryption and encryption
- post-quantum-cryptography
- API streamlining.
#rPGP is a full Rust implementation of #openpgp which counts among the fastest and most compliant implementations today, and includes security audits. Note: #deltachat uses a restricted subset of OpenPGP, and follows best practices (eg using the same ed25519 keys implementation as #signal) github.com/rpgp/rpgp/
"'Take a screenshot every few seconds' legitimately sounds like a suggestion from a low-parameter LLM that was given a prompt like 'How do I add an arbitrary AI feature to my operating system as quickly as possible in order to make investors happy?'" signal.org/blog/signal-doesnt-…
Signal Desktop now includes support for a new “Screen security” setting that is designed to help prevent your own computer from capturing screenshots of your Signal chats on Windows.
Purism makes premium phones, laptops, mini PCs and servers running free software on PureOS. Purism products respect people's privacy and freedom while protecting their security.
Gibt tatsächlich noch Gruppen, in denen #Doodle und nicht eine der datenschutzfreundlichen Alternativen genutzt wird 🤯 Schon ewig nicht mehr gesehen, obwohl ich an vielen Terminumfragen teilnehme...
Aber vielleicht bin ich da auch verwöhnt, in meinem Umfeld wird auch ausschließlich #Signal für Chatgruppen verwendet. Nach #Whatsapp fragt hier schon länger niemand mehr, auch wenn neue Leute dazu kommen. Signal ist inzwischen zum Standard geworden🙂
Aaand #Messenger is gone from my phone. If the couple of last contacts that didn't move over to #Signal need me, they can wait until I'm at the computer.
@signalapp @Mer__edith Is there a way to get a test number for development or self host / use a test instance of the signal server?
I'm considering to contribute a missing feature that annoys me, but I don't want to get a new SIM card / phone number and don't risk to break my current signal account.
💾 Hello Fediverse, after a long and dreadful march of persuasion through my contacts, I'm finally about to uninstall #Whatsapp. However, there's a group of people that organizes there, so I want to ask you:
Is there some #Fdroid app or other method to bridge Whatsapp messages to #Telegram or #Signal? I know interoperability is a big ask, but jusg being able to read when they meet would be enough.
Boosts appreciated, so if a solution is found, more people get to know about it!
As always in #uspol, what’s controversial here is not that an American bomb leveled an entire apartment building in #Yemen killing 53 people (both Republicans and Democrats believe such operations are permissible), only that the plans to do so were discussed on an unsecured chat #signal #signalgate
#Signal took a huge bet that running on US big-tech toxic infrastructure is fine because its groundbreaking and industry-shaping cryptography is crafted to neutralize it and keep users safe.
But is it really feasible to live on toxic infrastructure in the longer run?
#deltachat rather takes a bet on the massive e-mail server network and interoperable protocols, and on #chatmail servers which enforce message encryption and metadata-minimization.
Is there an #E2EE messenger in 2025, that: - doesn't depend on anything US (e.g. not #Signal) - is reasonably secure (e.g. not #Matrix) - runs on all platforms (e.g. not #Briar) - doesn't depend on commercial servers (e.g. not #Threema)
SXSW 2025 Livestream and On Demand Keynotes & Featured Speaker Sessions + VOD Portuguese and Spanish language translations presented by Itaú (these will be a...
@norbert If you’re still recommending #Signal you know that it is still the best choice for secure messaging for a wide range of users. Takeover of the government doesn’t change anything about how Signal operates.
European #antifascist recommending to use a service running in a fascist-turning country on servers owned by a fascist-friendly billionaire? This is weird.
Focusing solely on the E2EE misses a lot of points, one of those being that with #signal the ends have to be Android or iOS ~spyphones~ smartphones, which is not really something you can have 100% trust into IMHO.
"if you need a tool to communicate privately with your friends and family–even if your chats are boring, mundane, and totally legal–#Signal is the best damn choice I can recommend."
(Yes, I read all 6 parts. No, I don't claim to understand more than the basics of cryptography, which is why yes, I have to and do trust the author on their conclusions)
Last year, I urged furries to stop using Telegram because it doesn’t actually provide them with any of the privacy guarantees they think it gives them. Instead of improving Telegram’s c…
that is why I don't like people recommending moving from #WhatsApp to #Signal, better use messengers that don't depend on US servers and companies, like European messengers like #ArcaneChat
@adbenitez The problem with many #Signal alternatives is that they don't provide Windows / MacOS / Linux desktop versions. Hard as it may be to believe if you are under 30, not everyone walks around with a phone glued to their hip or in their hand all day. Personally, I have NEVER used a messaging client (other than SMS) on a phone, I use my desktop computer for everything, partly because the screens on phone are just too damn hard to read if you don't have perfect vision, but also I just have a terrible time using a modern "smart" phone in general.
One thing I don't like about #Signal is that it only supports one mobile device per account. I know they want to make it easy for the average user. But for someone who has two phones, it's very limiting.
That's why I prefer #Matrix. Adding another device and decrypting all existing messages doesn't even feel so clunky anymore.
The main problem I see isn't finding a good alternative, but finding a person who is willing to abandon #meta I have multiple alternatives(#signal, #element #telegram #discord ) but what to do when I'm the only one using them?
I tried to find when #Signal has published the most recent #security audit, and it turns out they either never published an audit or their code was never audited at all.
The closest thing I found is the list community.signalusers.org/t/ov… which only cites research papers and some evidence that in 2018 Signal paid Doyensec, but nothing got published as the result. Even then, it looks like the apps were not audited for more than 5 years since then.
Let’s collect past security audits here: Formal audits Year Auditor(s) Sponsor App/Component Published Link Last update / extended 2013 iSEC Partners (NCC Group) Open Technology Fund RedPhone and TextSecure ❌ Blog post 2014 Frosch et al.
I tried to find when #Signal has published the most recent #security audit, and it turns out they either never published an audit or their code was never audited at all.
The closest thing I found is the list community.signalusers.org/t/ov… which only cites research papers and some evidence that in 2018 Signal paid Doyensec, but nothing got published as the result. Even then, it looks like the apps were not audited for more than 5 years since then.
Let’s collect past security audits here: Formal audits Year Auditor(s) Sponsor App/Component Published Link Last update / extended 2013 iSEC Partners (NCC Group) Open Technology Fund RedPhone and TextSecure ❌ Blog post 2014 Frosch et al.
If you're still recommending #Signal, you may have missed the tech oligarchs' takeover of the US government. The best time to recommend European alternatives was 8 years ago; the second best is now.
Unfortunately, this year I could not join nor organize any in-person celebration, BUT of course I want to share my gratitude to the many, countless #FreeSoftware services I don’t merely use, but actually depend on.
Last year, I decided to focus only on #YunoHost, because it would have been crazy to list all the projects I use and I love.
This time, even if I will most certainly forget someone, I am challenging myself to mention all the #LibreSoftware my life is powered by.
#Obtainium, for making me directly download apps on my phone, and @fdroidorg for distributing them
#AuroraStore, for proxying the download of apps I am doomed to get from Google Play
@element, for developing #Synapse, even though the new proprietary Synapse Pro is VERY PROBLEMATIC AND DISAPPOINTING
#Fractal, for being the most beautiful and awesome #Matrix client ever
@signalapp, for keeping me connected with the people I love
@Mastodon, for also maintaining a feature-packed experimental fork (#GlitchSoc), that is what Pan runs
#Tuba and #Moshidon, for being the most beautiful and awesome #Mastodon clients ever
#Firefox, for still remaining the best possible #browser choice, despite #Mozilla’s governance messiness
@openstreetmap, for allowing us to find the right path, both literally and metaphorically!
@organicmaps, for being the simplest, cleanest, yet feature-rich #OSM client and navigation app
@protonvpn, for making me browse safely from/to anywhere in the planet and @protonprivacy #ProtonMail, for hosting my email, despite the latest alarming political statements…
@libreoffice, for allowing me to draft documents with ease, the last of which was my #CV
#LanguageTool, for preventing me from making embarassing spelling mistakes
@photoprism, for safely storing and indexing all my photographic memories, on Aby, and for providing stellar and friendly support too!
#Actual, for moderating the very likely risk of ending up completely broke, since it forces me to manage my finances consciously and coherently
@readeck, for storing and sorting ALL my varied and overwhelming inputs
@nextcloud, for storing and synchronizing my data, for its #calendar, its #tasks, and all its awesome apps
#Rustdesk, for preventing my friends and family members from going crazy, by allowing me to remotely connect to their devices and directly address the issues they have
@forgejo, for giving us a chance to truly control and collectively develop the sources of our software, but most importantly @Codeberg, for RESISTING, RESISTING, RESISTING, despite the hatred and attacks nazi assholes throw at them
@musicbrainz for keeping music knowledge open and free, and @ListenBrainz for scrobbling the crazy music I listen to
The @fsfe, for promoting this celebration and fighting the good fight!
Lastly, but most importantly, the biggest thank you goes to all the free software libraries and dependencies the above mentioned #software are made of/built with, including #C, #JavaScript, #Python, #Rust, and all community-maintained programming languages.
To be honest, I unfortunately strongly believe that as example #Signal and #Tuta are in that exact team. Why? Their design leaves gaps for exactly that kind of stealth operation.
Meta gebruikte naar verluidt ruim 80TB aan illegaal verkregen data om het Llama-llm te trainen. Werknemers van het bedrijf zouden onder meer ruim 35TB aan documenten uit Z-Library en LibGen hebben gedownload aan de hand van torrents.
This is what I think about whenever infosec wonks on here start telling people they should use matrix or xmpp+omemo or whatnot instead of signal
To be fair, I understand the arguments and to a large extent I agree with the critiques. However, I think anyone making these recommendations is vastly underestimating the capacity or appetite for most people to deal with the user experiences presented by these alternatives.
User experience is the ultimate force multiplier. For anything that requires network effects to function (ie most anything involving communication), if it doesn't *just work* then you've lost 90% of your audience.
Journalists use #Signal to talk to sources and share tips safely. The app helps protect privacy, but #journalists are often targets. To stay safe, they should secure their Signal account. This article explains how. The tips are also useful for ordinary users.
XMPP is a messaging protocol (among other things) that needs no introduction to any technical audience. Its various implementations have proliferated through technical communities for decades. Many…
📣 Happy #GlobalSwitchDay to all the brave frontrunners out there!
For whom February 1st came a little too soon, don't worry! Just try again on March 1st and celebrate Zero Discrimination Day in the beautiful #fediverse. Alternatively, you can switch on April 1st, as only fools stay behind ;) or join your friends on May 1st and put your ideals to work.
