I disagree. There are a variety of ways your data can be leaked. For example, the person you’re talking to can be using a Google stock phone or Microsoft windows which may collect data. If this was a random XMPP name, this would provide more protection than your real phone number. Furthermore, there are academic studies proving the metadata can be gotten. Please see this for more information:
https://simplifiedprivacy.com/signal-messenger-guide-to-avoid-privacy-mistakes/
If this was a random XMPP name, this would provide more protection than your real phone number.
Again, Signal is not supposed to be a anonymous messaging service. It is supposed to be a private one. You’re literally comparing a messaging protocol designed to be anonymous to a non-anonymous one. Sure, it would be great if XMPP was used overall, but unfortunately it isn’t. At least Signal developed a protocol that is starting to be pretty popular and is E2EE. You can use XMPP, but your average privacy user will use Signal over WhatsApp. Your argument literally is just about how XMPP is more anonymous than a protocol not even designed to be anonymous in the first place.
Plus why care how the CIA or whatever knows who you’re talking to when they don’t know what you’re talking about?
That would be a concern if you and/or the one you’re talking to were some criminal or something, but not for the average person.
So if you’re some criminal, if you have even a little bit of common sense, you wouldn’t be using Signal in the first place. There’s other more secure and anonymous means of doing so. Whether it be over some protocol like XMPP, Matrix or SignalX’s protocol or something.
Are you some paranoid person or a criminal? Because the CIA or the FBI wouldn’t give a fuck about why I am talking to person Y 24/7 as long as their phone numbers are not in the suspicious persons list and the messages are encrypted so that even if I were doing some stuff that would anger the government, they wouldn’t ever know it.
It is already a pain in the ass to get someone to join Signal over from other apps like Instagram, FB messenger, WhatsApp etc.
By introducing decentralized systems, you’re causing even more “confusion”. They most likely don’t even understand what decentralization is and just back off because it “sounds” so complicated and scary to them. Plus even if they did switch to XMPP or at least started using it, would their friends switch too? Without someone to message, why keep using the messaging service? They’ll switch back right to their original messaging service they used to use before you encouraged them into switching over to XMPP. And now you even seem like someone they wouldn’t ask for advice from, because you once did give them advice and it was not useful.
If you are also so against phone numbers, you might like that Signal will introduce usernames soon. The ones you give your Signal username to will never ever know your real phone number (as long as you turn phone number privacy on in the settings [coming soon after the usernames]). Not a replacement for real anonymous messaging services, but at least somewhat similar concept.
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I disagree. There are a variety of ways your data can be leaked. For example, the person you’re talking to can be using a Google stock phone or Microsoft windows which may collect data. If this was a random XMPP name, this would provide more protection than your real phone number. Furthermore, there are academic studies proving the metadata can be gotten. Please see this for more information: https://simplifiedprivacy.com/signal-messenger-guide-to-avoid-privacy-mistakes/
Again, Signal is not supposed to be a anonymous messaging service. It is supposed to be a private one. You’re literally comparing a messaging protocol designed to be anonymous to a non-anonymous one. Sure, it would be great if XMPP was used overall, but unfortunately it isn’t. At least Signal developed a protocol that is starting to be pretty popular and is E2EE. You can use XMPP, but your average privacy user will use Signal over WhatsApp. Your argument literally is just about how XMPP is more anonymous than a protocol not even designed to be anonymous in the first place. Plus why care how the CIA or whatever knows who you’re talking to when they don’t know what you’re talking about? That would be a concern if you and/or the one you’re talking to were some criminal or something, but not for the average person. So if you’re some criminal, if you have even a little bit of common sense, you wouldn’t be using Signal in the first place. There’s other more secure and anonymous means of doing so. Whether it be over some protocol like XMPP, Matrix or SignalX’s protocol or something. Are you some paranoid person or a criminal? Because the CIA or the FBI wouldn’t give a fuck about why I am talking to person Y 24/7 as long as their phone numbers are not in the suspicious persons list and the messages are encrypted so that even if I were doing some stuff that would anger the government, they wouldn’t ever know it.
It is already a pain in the ass to get someone to join Signal over from other apps like Instagram, FB messenger, WhatsApp etc. By introducing decentralized systems, you’re causing even more “confusion”. They most likely don’t even understand what decentralization is and just back off because it “sounds” so complicated and scary to them. Plus even if they did switch to XMPP or at least started using it, would their friends switch too? Without someone to message, why keep using the messaging service? They’ll switch back right to their original messaging service they used to use before you encouraged them into switching over to XMPP. And now you even seem like someone they wouldn’t ask for advice from, because you once did give them advice and it was not useful.
If you are also so against phone numbers, you might like that Signal will introduce usernames soon. The ones you give your Signal username to will never ever know your real phone number (as long as you turn phone number privacy on in the settings [coming soon after the usernames]). Not a replacement for real anonymous messaging services, but at least somewhat similar concept.