Rugged Raccoon

  • 9 Posts
  • 33 Comments
Joined 4 years ago
Cake day: January 14th, 2021
  • Rugged Raccoon@lemmy.mltoPrivacy@lemmy.ml•I didn't install Signal for privacy
    3·
    4 years ago

    The only way to change the situation is to force those social networks to use their powers more responsibly. Europe’s GDPR law with its right to data portability is a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough. I believe we need more to regain our right to choose what services we use.

    I wouldn’t bet much on these laws, because it’s the same EU that’s drafting bills for lawful access to encrypted data - https://www.cyberscoop.com/encryption-europe-tutanota-protonmail-threema-tresorit/

    The adoption of the encryption resolution in the European Union does not affect the landscape for encrypted services in Europe immediately, as the resolution is non-binding. But its adoption suggests a “shift in tone and puts pressure on the European Commission to propose anti-encryption legislation in the near future,” the encrypted email service provider ProtonMail has argued.

    After portability, we need to discuss about interoperability, which in this case is the ability to contact people that are are using different chat applications than the one you are using. The way email and SMS already work.

    I don’t see a possibility for this in Signal, at least as long as Moxie is there pulling the strings and here are his views on federation - https://signal.org/blog/the-ecosystem-is-moving/

    When someone recently asked me about federating an unrelated communication platform into the Signal network, I told them that I thought we’d be unlikely to ever federate with clients and servers we don’t control.

An open source infrastructure for a centralized network now provides almost the same level of control as federated protocols, without giving up the ability to adapt. If a centralized provider with an open source infrastructure ever makes horrible changes, those that disagree have the software they need to run their own alternative instead. It may not be as beautiful as federation, but at this point it seems that it will have to do.
  • Rugged Raccoon@lemmy.mltoPrivacy@lemmy.ml•Why not to trust Signal (Blogpost from 2018)
    6·
    4 years ago

    https://signal.org/blog/there-is-no-whatsapp-backdoor/

    It is great that The Guardian thinks privacy is something their readers should be concerned about. However, running a story like this without taking the time to carefully evaluate claims of a “backdoor” will ultimately only hurt their readers. It has the potential to drive them away from a well-engineered and carefully considered system to much more dangerous products that make truly false claims. Since the story has been published, we have repeatedly reached out to the author and the editors at The Guardian, but have received no response.

    We believe that WhatsApp remains a great choice for users concerned with the privacy of their message content.

    There we have it, let’s all switch back to WhatsApp and be done with this issue :D

  • Rugged Raccoon@lemmy.mltoPrivacy@lemmy.ml•Why not to trust Signal (Blogpost from 2018)
    9·
    4 years ago

    Jeez, I just looked at moxie’s comments here, and was like woahhhh! - https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37#issuecomment-217339450

        > Some time ago you federated with CyanogenMod. What has changed since then?

What changed was going through that experience. It seriously degraded the UX for our users and held us back in the development process at many times. I'd estimate that all told, we lost about 6 months to a year of progress. It's something we'll probably never do again, and has fully convinced me that federated protocols are a thing of the past in this world of ours.

    > I hope you see the difference between LibreSignal and the SignalPlus-like apps that just want to earn something using somebody else's work. I really see the space for a good cooperation here.

If people want to use our source code to develop their own products, that's fine, so long as it's done under the terms of the license. That's the deal we're making with everyone, and I agree that it allows for possible collaboration. However, we are not running a service for other people's products, and we are not letting other people use our name in their products. Those things aren't part of the deal.

    > Let's just use XMPP/Conversations and be done...

You have no idea how much I would love it if you did, but the fact that you don't is sadly telling.

    It’s something we’ll probably never do again, and has fully convinced me that federated protocols are a thing of the past in this world of ours.

    This one!

  • Rugged Raccoon@lemmy.mlOPtoPrivacy@lemmy.ml•What happens when Signal server gets compromised ?
    1·
    4 years ago

    While I can see the perspective from which this blog has been written. If I understood correctly, centralization makes it easy for the users & reduces friction in switching services, while allowing the services to adapt to the changing landscape.

    But, many of the points here, which might have been well intended, doesn’t rhyme well (with me at least). For example, the thing about clients or server in a federated landscape not supporting the same thing, that’s a bit blowing it out of proportion IMHO. When we look around, the devices, the software we use, aren’t the same and don’t work the same for anyone, but it works nonetheless. A standard is something that is hard to adapt quickly or implement, in a diverse ecosystem as this. The talk about IP version being stuck in time, I’m wondering what Moxie thinks should’ve been done about that?

    This is like wanting to make everything "Apple"ized, if that’s even a proper word. Everything from hardware to software, built to a specification and custom protocol. If hardware and software are under centralized control, sure you can eliminate most of the compatibility problems and provide what you envisioned. But, that would take way the ability to have something that is different, yet is interoperable.

    What we have is an ok’ish ecosystem, where things confirm to some standard, at some capacity, while I at the same giving us the freedom to tinker and have something different.