Signal is a centralized app, run by a company. If they are offered enough money or legal threat they will sell out or close.
I am sure people will make an argument that its FOSS and people will just fork it if it goes bad, but a new fork will have 0 users and Signal will still have all of your old contacts. Why not make a switch now? Before it is even more popular and you have more reasons to stay? Why fork it if there are already decentralized apps that use same encryption, like XMPP apps?
Sure you can find flaws in every app, including XMPP implementations, but if we will have to write code for a new Signal fork, why not just fix whatever is that bugs you in XMPP clients?
If you want to use Matrix, that is fine as well, we can always bridge the two open protocols. But you cant bridge Signal if their company doesn’t allow it.
Signal doesn’t store your contacts or messages; it’s end to end encryption. What are you suggesting they’ll “sell out” if offered enough money?
I was referring for them taking the bribe and letting the app die. At which point switching to another app will be unavoidable. It is better to make a switch now, then wait longer until possibly even more users depend on it.
That’s a terrible line of thinking. Why not just use it till the end, if it ever comes?
Your title uses far too active a verb to be referring to a hypothetical situation.
I get that you want to promote XMPP but accusing others of corruption is not how to do it, unless you have solid proof of it. Do you have any sources suggesting Signal has sold data?
I dont know why I cant reply to any of you in this thread. EDIT: I will do it here:
It is perfectly reasonable to sail on a solid boat instead of jumping from one sinking ship to another.
I never mentioned in my main post that Signal is selling data and I also clarified in this post what I was exactly referring to. It is unreasonable to put words in my mouth
I disagree. There are many decentralized apps that are easier to use than centralized apps, including Signal. It is simpler to create an account on a P2P app like Briar then a centralized app that requires a phone number like Signal.
Every XMPP server gets as much as data from your private messages as Signal does and since XMPP clients have an option for using Tor, unlike Signal, it requires even less trust with data.
The benefits of decentralized network compared to centralized are very significant and worth trying to convince your friends. There is no single point of failure. If Signal closes due to government pressure, you will need to convince them to another app anyway and at that time there might be another popular centralized app that will again close after certain amount of pressure. The only way out of this is by pushing decentralized apps and pushing them now, rather then latter.
I understand what open source is and I fully understand the dangers of centralized apps as well. I have addressed these arguments in my main post already. If it gets forked we will need to again develop a new app and grow the userbase from scratch. It is far more reasonable to make a switch now to decentralized services. I am simply trying to explain to people the dangers of centralized apps, just like I did for reddit (which was also open source centralized app until 2017 and here we are on decentralized lemmy now). Seeing people fighting for decentralization, out of no possible personal goal, while defending centralized system run by small group of people that gain funding for it, should never sicken you. You should encourage people like me that try to warn you in time and let you know about alternatives instead of booing me off, like people did lemmy advocates on reddit before this recent scandal.
As you can see I spent a lot of time trying to teach people about this stuff to make an actual social change that will benefit us all, so please read about XMPP and think about it. Spread the word, because I can’t possibly reach everybody.
Signal launched in 2014 and is open source. It is literally impossible for them to “sell out”. If the main developers want to stop developing it, it will simply be forked. Do you even understand what open source software is? They aren’t even selling anything, signal is free, and the developers do not make money off of users. You are fearmongering paranoia, and honestly, people like you sicken me. Stop posting about things you understand nothing about.
I suppose. You’re still putting trust into something. To make sure they’re doing the right thing and making the right decisions in regards to security and privacy, and that they wouldn’t be pressured by a government or third-party to violate that.
We don’t need trust in P2P networks. Companies are always trying to spread the idea that you always have to trust someone, so it might as well be them. Politicians do that too. P2P networks exist, so does direct democracies. Don’t let them make you a pessimist.
What are you talking about? I mean trust in the sense of doing the right thing from a security aspect. Maybe whoever is setting up the server isn’t as adept with security and doesn’t do all that is required.
They don’t need to be. I am talking about the security being in your hands, it is end to end encrypted and you can hide your IP behind tor, since unlike Signal, XMPP clients support use of Tor.