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> How is this "doubtful" advice? Whatsapp and Signal are literally the state of the art of encrypted messaging apps. There simply are no better options. What wo

> How is this "doubtful" advice? Whatsapp and Signal are literally the state of the art of encrypted messaging apps. There simply are no better options. What would you recommend instead? Custom XMPP server running as a Tor hidden service with OMEMO enabled (https://conversations.im/omemo/ https://conversations.im/omemo/). Signal and Whatsapp require a phone number which may or may not be good based on one's threat model.

ryanlol 9y ago
Signal will accept literally any phone number, you can set up an account with any random voip number. >Custom XMPP server running as a Tor hidden service with OMEMO enabled Is not advice you can give in a "security guide for journalists"
- Shoothe 9y ago
  Oh sorry, I figured out that if a media company is serious they'd run the server for their journalists. https://conversations.im/ https://conversations.im/ also uses E2E encrypted chats and I don't need to setup any "random VoIP numbers".
  - ryanlol 9y ago
    But what would they gain by using conversations over Tor, shorter battery life?
    - Shoothe 9y ago
      For the record you don't need to use Tor in conversations, it depends on your threat model but using Tor protects against middle man figuring out which services do you use. If you use third party server even when the message is encrypted you are leaking metadata (where do you log in from, who do you contact).
      - ryanlol 9y ago
        The fundamental problem here seems to be that Conversations doesn't run on iOS, so it's hardly a realistic option even if there was some reason to choose it over Signal.
        Shoothe 9y ago
        On iOS use https://chatsecure.org https://chatsecure.org For me not relying on a centralized solution ran by a company funded largely by the US government is good enough reason. Especially that as I've demonstrated you can have the same level of security or even more (XMPP doesn't require phone numbers and can run over Tor) not losing any modern features.

ryanlol 9y ago

Signal will accept literally any phone number, you can set up an account with any random voip number. >Custom XMPP server running as a Tor hidden service with OMEMO enabled Is not advice you can give in a "security guide for journalists"

Shoothe 9y ago
Oh sorry, I figured out that if a media company is serious they'd run the server for their journalists. https://conversations.im/ https://conversations.im/ also uses E2E encrypted chats and I don't need to setup any "random VoIP numbers".
- ryanlol 9y ago
  But what would they gain by using conversations over Tor, shorter battery life?
  - Shoothe 9y ago
    For the record you don't need to use Tor in conversations, it depends on your threat model but using Tor protects against middle man figuring out which services do you use. If you use third party server even when the message is encrypted you are leaking metadata (where do you log in from, who do you contact).
    - ryanlol 9y ago
      The fundamental problem here seems to be that Conversations doesn't run on iOS, so it's hardly a realistic option even if there was some reason to choose it over Signal.
      - Shoothe 9y ago
        On iOS use https://chatsecure.org https://chatsecure.org For me not relying on a centralized solution ran by a company funded largely by the US government is good enough reason. Especially that as I've demonstrated you can have the same level of security or even more (XMPP doesn't require phone numbers and can run over Tor) not losing any modern features.