Signal may not transmit any payload via Google Cloud Messaging, but Signal's requirement to run Google Play Services compromises the user's privacy in ways that

Signal may not transmit any payload via Google Cloud Messaging, but Signal's requirement to run Google Play Services compromises the user's privacy in ways that have nothing to do with Signal. If you run Play Services then you have a device which provides your communications metadata, whereabouts, and device usage habits to Google. I don't trust Google with this information and don't want to carry such a device, but a handful of friends and family use Signal, so I must choose between easy/secure communication with them, and reducing my exposure to corporate surveillance. Signal may be "pragmatic" among the current choices (just like the project's decision to use GCM is pragmatic), but OpenWhisperSystems absolutely deserves criticism for: 1. Tying secure communication to running what amounts to Google's spyware on your device 2. Offering no alternative for privacy-conscious users 3. Showing hostility to those trying to introduce such an alternative to the project I think those dismissing these concerns as "crypto-puritanism" will be on the wrong side of history.