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I read some speculation that the delay was to keep this objectionable crypto payment development under wraps until they were ready to launch.

by lvs 6y ago

prophesi 6y ago
Yep. I posted this on a different Signal HN submission, but the very next commit on April 22nd, 2020 was when they first began working on the integration. https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Server/commit/95f0ce181631fef8b1fdb507b7ecf5b71291ff38 https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Server/commit/95f0ce1816...
- yunohn 6y ago
  Oh wow. That’s incredibly suspicious...
  - yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
    It could just be an arguably-legitimate desire to keep the hot new feature secret until the big announcement; this particular bit is... sub-optimal... but it doesn't seem like it needs to be nefarious.
    - coolspot 6y ago
      Next time they will freeze code to keep NSA integration secret.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - yunohn 6y ago
      Open source trust is a big selling point. Arguably more so than a new payment feature. Hard to understand the desire to hide it all...
olah_1 6y ago
The devious aspect to this is that nobody knew the development was happening so we couldn’t invest even if we wanted to. It was kept under wraps for a grade A pump.
- hvis 6y ago
  OTOH, announcing this development semi-privately on GitHub but not to the public at large (including the current MobileCoin owners) could be considered as "insider trading", and it's a criminal offense in US.
  - olah_1 6y ago
    Which is probably why they’re avoiding the SEC at all costs.
dbrgn 6y ago
This might be a legitimate reason to keep the source code non-public temporarily. However, the communication strategy by Signal about this was horrible (or rather non-existent). People in the user forum (https://community.signalusers.org/t/where-is-new-signal-server-code-why-not-share-signal/15068/1 https://community.signalusers.org/t/where-is-new-signal-serv...) and in other places on the internet were upset for months, because the server wasn't being updated anymore. At the same time, Signal regularly tweetet that "all they do is 100% open source", even at a point in time where no source code was released for almost a year. Just 2 days ago this was getting picked up by some larger tech news platforms: https://www.golem.de/news/crypto-messenger-signal-server-nicht-mehr-open-source-2104-155376.html https://www.golem.de/news/crypto-messenger-signal-server-nic... https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/04/06/it-looks-like-signal-isnt-as-open-source-as-you-thought-it-was-anymore/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/04/06/it-looks-like-signa... It's normal that Signal ignores its users, but apparently they didn't even reply to press inquiries about the source code. All it would have taken is a clear statement like "we're working on a cool new feature and will release the sources once that's ready, please bear with us". Instead, they left people speculating for months. This communication strategy, combined with the cryptocurrency announcement, may cause serious harm to Signal's reputation.

I read some speculation that the delay was to keep this objectionable crypto payment development under wraps until they were ready to launch.

by lvs 6y ago

I read some speculation that the delay was to keep this objectionable crypto payment development under wraps until they were ready to launch.

prophesi 6y ago

Yep. I posted this on a different Signal HN submission, but the very next commit on April 22nd, 2020 was when they first began working on the integration. https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Server/commit/95f0ce181631fef8b1fdb507b7ecf5b71291ff38 https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Server/commit/95f0ce1816...

yunohn 6y ago
Oh wow. That’s incredibly suspicious...
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
  It could just be an arguably-legitimate desire to keep the hot new feature secret until the big announcement; this particular bit is... sub-optimal... but it doesn't seem like it needs to be nefarious.
  - coolspot 6y ago
    Next time they will freeze code to keep NSA integration secret.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - yunohn 6y ago
    Open source trust is a big selling point. Arguably more so than a new payment feature. Hard to understand the desire to hide it all...

olah_1 6y ago

The devious aspect to this is that nobody knew the development was happening so we couldn’t invest even if we wanted to. It was kept under wraps for a grade A pump.

hvis 6y ago
OTOH, announcing this development semi-privately on GitHub but not to the public at large (including the current MobileCoin owners) could be considered as "insider trading", and it's a criminal offense in US.
- olah_1 6y ago
  Which is probably why they’re avoiding the SEC at all costs.

dbrgn 6y ago

This might be a legitimate reason to keep the source code non-public temporarily. However, the communication strategy by Signal about this was horrible (or rather non-existent). People in the user forum (https://community.signalusers.org/t/where-is-new-signal-server-code-why-not-share-signal/15068/1 https://community.signalusers.org/t/where-is-new-signal-serv...) and in other places on the internet were upset for months, because the server wasn't being updated anymore. At the same time, Signal regularly tweetet that "all they do is 100% open source", even at a point in time where no source code was released for almost a year. Just 2 days ago this was getting picked up by some larger tech news platforms: https://www.golem.de/news/crypto-messenger-signal-server-nicht-mehr-open-source-2104-155376.html https://www.golem.de/news/crypto-messenger-signal-server-nic... https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/04/06/it-looks-like-signal-isnt-as-open-source-as-you-thought-it-was-anymore/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/04/06/it-looks-like-signa... It's normal that Signal ignores its users, but apparently they didn't even reply to press inquiries about the source code. All it would have taken is a clear statement like "we're working on a cool new feature and will release the sources once that's ready, please bear with us". Instead, they left people speculating for months. This communication strategy, combined with the cryptocurrency announcement, may cause serious harm to Signal's reputation.