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It's a bit of a cart before the horse issue, no? I mean what is the point of obsessing about the security of the messages if you don't value the messages thems
by verytrivial 6y ago
It's a bit of a cart before the horse issue, no?
I mean what is the point of obsessing about the security of the messages if you don't value the messages themselves?
Some people[1] clearly value message history far beyond the transfer point to chat itself, and making people choose between being spied upon and not having message history, I think many people will choose trusting that they won't lose their messages.
[1] Myself included. I check with Signal[2] every six months to see if they have a backup option, then switch back to WhatsApp when I see they don't. Phones die. My messages are more important than my phone.
[2] https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059752-Backup-and-Restore-Messages https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059752-Ba...
- mandelbrotwurst 6y agoThere is still value in being able to securely communicate in the present even if you are not able to maintain a permanently searchable log of all activity.
- tinco 6y agoYes, but less value. And most would say not enough value.
- FalconSensei 6y agoThere's value, that's why some niches migrated to Signal. But the general population seems to think they are losing features, instead of gaining, that's why they don't migrate/are upset and surprised when they lose history
- mderazon 6y agoThat's right. I actually have all my conversations on Signal self disappear after a week
- skinkestek 6y agoSignal isn't meant to be a mainstream one-size-fits-all, even tptacek admits as much: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22371316 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22371316 He actually seemed annoyed that everyone insisted on using it for everything :-) If you need bulletproof cryptographically verifiable encryption - use Signal. If one wants to plan dinner, use whatever fits your bill. (And if in addition to the same supposedly bulletproof encryption as Signal you also want NSA^HGoogle to back up your messages and Facebook to know who you talk to and when so they might better customize their ads^H^H^H your experience you can also use WhatsApp :-)
- Yeroc 6y agoThe downside of that attitude is that if a chat program is only used for what governments consider subversive activities then it will be targeted to be shutdown. It is much better to have a general-purpose, secure chat program that IS mainstream making it more difficult for oppressive regimes to target.
- skinkestek 6y agoOr we can use a number of different programs for different purposes like I do: - exchanging passwords? encrypted mail, Signal or something else E2E-encrypted - work: whatever work says. Mostly slack. - discussions with friends and family: Telegram - online shouting competitions: twitter - showing off: Instagram - telling Facebook who my friends are and how often I talk to them: WhatsApp ;-)
- saagarjha 6y agoBut this is just annoying. People don't want to juggle more chat apps unless they provide clear value, and for many Signal just isn't very compelling.
- kitkat_new 6y ago- exchanging passwords? Matrix - work: Matrix - discussions with friends and family: Matrix - online shouting competitions: twitter - showing off: Instagram
- _rs 6y agoDoes Matrix support keeping a local log/backup of chat history, like others are discussing in this thread?
- ymolodtsov 6y agoOh worse, just nobody except the around-Hacker-News crowd plus reporters would ever use it. I don't get why I or anybody should switch to Signal. It's not a good app.