I'd rather my Signal not be federated sigh Facebook at all. I'd be fine downloading a secondary Signal-owned app just for Whatsapp contacts (that way I don't have WhatsApp on my phone), but I do not want my standard Signal traffic routed through Facebook's data-guzzling, privacy-eroding servers.
Federating would mean handing off chat metadata to Meta and other for-profit companies in the future.
I don't see how anyone excited to use Signal would like that. It very much defeats the purpose of using Signal.
If I understand this document correctly, it would mean that the entire connection somehow gets routed through Meta's servers. I can fully understand the reluctance of other parties, including Signal, to do that, and I wonder how this is actually compliant with the DMA.
Last I heard Signal wasn't interested in federating with WhatsApp so that initiative basically died before it was born.
It would go against their principles and the mission of the non-profit that runs Signal. They don't store any message data on their servers (unlike WhatsApp), and WhatsApp mines as much data as they can from its users.
How much and to what extent, I can't say, but allowing Signal to federate would essentially let Meta start mining and storing Signal user data. Fuck that noise.
The President of the Signal Foundation (Meredith Whittaker) has commented on this in this podcast episode. Skip to 1:05:45.
I wasn't aware that it was only about Signal. Thought messengers in general must be able to communicate with each other.
Just delete it now. Tell your friends that you're moving because of all the tech oligarchs that just got handed the keys to the government and the economy. Tell your friends that Signal is run by a 501(c)3 nonprofit and actually cares about privacy.
I left Meta products in 2010, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. You deserve not to "be the product" anymore.
This is pretty close to how I did it.
The "one or the other" thing is a fallacy. You have just one, but they're clearly happy installing stuff like WA - so tell them to install another app. It's not like they have to switch.
If they subsequently come to realise the value of Signal in time, all the better.
If installing both helped you, then perhaps that's a good strategy for some. I'm more of a "leave the abusive relationship and cut ties" kind of person, which is why I don't advocate for both at the same time. People often end up going back to the familiar option, rather than trying something new.
As a side note, that's not what a fallacy is. Fallacies are invalid logical statements, and I didn't make any false statements or present any sort of false dichotomy. A false dichotomy would be if I said something like, "You have to choose between Signal or WhatsApp," which is obviously false because you can choose both.
Though again, that's not something I advocate on purpose, due to the aforementioned issue I have with "being the product," and it is not fallacious or deceptive to exclude the suggestion of installing both in light of that additional premise.
I don’t know. I’m having a much better time getting friends to move to telegram than signal.
I prefer signal, but they all seem to prefer telegram as an alternative.
I've had a shockingly easy time getting my friends and family to move to signal.
There is literally only one person I have not gotten to move to it and that's because she just has so many contacts who won't leave Facebook.
Telegram is actually worse for privacy and security than Whatsapp.
Really?
I mean I understand whatsapp has E2E encryption but they sell all your metadata and account data and stuff dont they. Does telegram do worse?
Telegram is well known bad https://soatok.blog/2024/05/14/its-time-for-furries-to-stop-using-telegram/
Telegram can read all your actual conversations (since almost no one uses encryption on it).
It's run using a complex web of shell companies in various countries like the British Virgin Islands, Dubai and a lot of others.
They say they don't sell your data, but it is a for-profit organisation and no one can really know what they do.
telegram doesn't even do e2ee by default
it requires Whatsapp to open up interoperability with other services if they request that. Signal has already mentioned in the past that they wouldn't be interested.
I have no idea, but I'm also interested. Thus said, remember that's only inside EU. I remember that Meta said they won't apply this outside EU.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
