Using Signal groups for activism
Using Signal groups for activism
Things are heating up. Millions of people are taking to the streets against Trump's rising authoritarianism. Communities around the US are organizing to defend against ICE raids, to protest Israeli genocide, for mutual aid, and for other forms of fighting fascism. Signal can help people safely organ...
Signal still centrally collects metadata and requires a phone number to participate.
If you're serious about privacy, ESPECIALLY if you're part of a group looking to organize in a clandestine fashion, you should look into the vastly superior SimpleX Chat.
The only metadata they collect is:
-
The last time you connected to their server
-
When you first registered
-
Signal still centrally collects metadata
Signal doesn't collect any useful data; they've been compelled by court to present all data they have on users and all they know are two time stamps. The date + time your phone number registered and the last day (not time) one of your apps (linked desktop app or tablet) pinged their server.
Source: https://signal.org/bigbrother/
... and requires a phone number to participate.
Because it originated as an overlay of the SMS/MMS network, a text messaging replacement, before everyone was "always online". But that's beside the point as you can now hide your phone number from others.
If you're serious about privacy, ESPECIALLY if you're part of a group looking to organize in a clandestine fashion, you should look into the vastly superior SimpleX Chat.
I wouldn't recommend SimpleX chat, its developed by a Trump-supporting Antivaxxer who believes in wild conspiracy theories, not the kind of person I would put my trust in. Source: https://social.tchncs.de/@pixelcode/114633102552691724
If you're serious abut privacy, ESPECIALLY if you're part of a group looking to organize in a clandestine fashion, you should fund the development of your own secure channels. Don't outsource the important stuff. For everyone else, there's Signal.
per the article
Signal can't access user metadata. It's not just that Signal promises not to keep logs. They've literally engineered their service to cryptographically prevent themselves from having access to metadata, even if they wanted to. Signal doesn't know what groups you're in, or even what Signal groups exist on the platform. They don't know the names or membership of any Signal group. They can't even access your profile picture or name. All of this is stored on user devices and shared directly from user to user. On the other hand, if WhatsApp gets a data request, Meta will turn over details about everyone in your group, exactly who sends messages to who, and when, because WhatsApp collects all of this.
SimpleX is run by a Trump apologist and "white genocide" believer who believes the protests are fake and/or literally Stalin.
Edit: "all child abuse is horrible. But..." Evgeny is especially concerned about "genocide of young white girls" specifically, wondering "can Elon Musk help?"
Signal collects your IP address and the last IP address you sent a message to. They store that info to maintain their services. They also store your phone number, either of which can be tied back to your identity (in the US, don't @ me, friends from across the pond).
The only thing these reveal is that you use Signal, which is currently still legal. Also, even if a judge ordered Signal to collect outgoing messages for your user, the content of your messages would already be encrypted. So unless your use of the service could be construed as illegal (or perhaps who you're talking to), then it's probably still safe to use.
However, all that said, I still agree that SimpleX is a better choice for activism. No phone numbers or other useful identifiers, uses a series of nodes rather than a central server, expiring contact-adding codes, etc... it's simply better, if you need privacy against external threats.
And there's no reason you can't have both on your phone for different kinds of groups!
Or if you want to have a federated platform that's closer to something like Discord, Matrix.
They dropped the phone number requirement a while ago
Yeah I thought they had too, but it's the case that for a new account you still have to have a phone #. You can then use a chosen account for everything else.
Also beware that the target entry is always people. Any group you don't know extremely well is going to "leak" and so it's best, in general, whenever it involves electronics, to not do things you wouldn't want to be found out doing.
Some users are mentioning SimpleX, which has some very good features, but for activism I'd really suggest Briar. Just scan each other's QR codes to add all the needed contacts with no real names and create a mesh network through WiFi or Bluetooth connections between devices (no internet needed). If everyone is still bent on using Signal, whoever owns an Android phone should at least download the .apk from Molly.im. This version of the app is better suited for this.