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I don't want "the utmost privacy". I want something better than raw SMS. I'm not an international secret agent. I encrypt things out of principal more than beca

I don't want "the utmost privacy". I want something better than raw SMS. I'm not an international secret agent. I encrypt things out of principal more than because I really care if some government force reads them. If a nation-state decides I'm of interest to them for malicious reasons, I'm probably screwed either way.

jeltz 5y ago
Then these bridges are fine. Virtually everything is better than raw SMS.
- grassjumper 5y ago
  That depends a lot. In a civilized country with low risk of 2G downgrade attacks and sensible telecom laws/law enforcement restrictions, SMS is a lot more secure and private than many other options. Obviously still a long way off actual secure communication though.
- JasonFruit 5y ago
  But Signal is better than Signal over these bridges, and it's easy too. Just because you don't want to run your own service doesn't mean you have to choose a poor option over a pretty good one.
  - axelthegerman 5y ago
    But not everyone I talk to is on Signal. And I don't want to remember which app to open to message a certain person. What's the difference between Element offering these bridges, people deploying their own bridges or others having 3rd party clients that you can't trust with your E2E encryption?
    - JasonFruit 5y ago
      Nothing makes that better, you're right. I prefer to just remember who uses what and act accordingly, but you choose convenience instead — and both are reasonable choices.
2Gkashmiri 5y ago
remember that xkcd https://xkcd.com/538/ https://xkcd.com/538/ yeahh. thats not exactly a meme but i am personally facing these same state sponsored actions read here https://thekashmirwalla.com/not-pegasus-kashmiris-are-worried-about-next-checkpoint/ https://thekashmirwalla.com/not-pegasus-kashmiris-are-worrie...
- wayoutthere 5y ago
  Yeah, infosec has its limits. But if you’re gonna challenge the state, it does help keep things quiet until you are numerous and armed.
  - 2Gkashmiri 5y ago
    I recently had my internet snapped last month and I did not want reddit to know "last 90 days IP access log" so I had a dormant account and I wrote a post locally, called a friend living overseas and made him login to that dormant account and I dictated the text.

jeltz 5y ago

Then these bridges are fine. Virtually everything is better than raw SMS.

grassjumper 5y ago
That depends a lot. In a civilized country with low risk of 2G downgrade attacks and sensible telecom laws/law enforcement restrictions, SMS is a lot more secure and private than many other options. Obviously still a long way off actual secure communication though.
JasonFruit 5y ago
But Signal is better than Signal over these bridges, and it's easy too. Just because you don't want to run your own service doesn't mean you have to choose a poor option over a pretty good one.
- axelthegerman 5y ago
  But not everyone I talk to is on Signal. And I don't want to remember which app to open to message a certain person. What's the difference between Element offering these bridges, people deploying their own bridges or others having 3rd party clients that you can't trust with your E2E encryption?
  - JasonFruit 5y ago
    Nothing makes that better, you're right. I prefer to just remember who uses what and act accordingly, but you choose convenience instead — and both are reasonable choices.

2Gkashmiri 5y ago

remember that xkcd https://xkcd.com/538/ https://xkcd.com/538/ yeahh. thats not exactly a meme but i am personally facing these same state sponsored actions read here https://thekashmirwalla.com/not-pegasus-kashmiris-are-worried-about-next-checkpoint/ https://thekashmirwalla.com/not-pegasus-kashmiris-are-worrie...

wayoutthere 5y ago
Yeah, infosec has its limits. But if you’re gonna challenge the state, it does help keep things quiet until you are numerous and armed.
- 2Gkashmiri 5y ago
  I recently had my internet snapped last month and I did not want reddit to know "last 90 days IP access log" so I had a dormant account and I wrote a post locally, called a friend living overseas and made him login to that dormant account and I dictated the text.