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There definitely seems to be a gap between what a certain subset of people want out of Signal and what I do. I like Signal because it is a fairly pure messagin
by meowfly 4y ago
There definitely seems to be a gap between what a certain subset of people want out of Signal and what I do.
I like Signal because it is a fairly pure messaging app. Admittedly, introduction of Mobile Coin has marred that though. I want something analogous to SMS but is E2E encrypted. I'm personally not intentionally trying to evade state governments, I'm concerned about Comcast.
My favorite Signal feature is automatic deleting messages. I can have ephemeral conversations with people about politics, a health issue, etc and generally trust that it won't be on their phone later. When that feature rolled out, it was controversial. The security types complained that it provided a fake assurance of privacy since there was nothing stopping screenshotting or simply taking a picture of your phone. It reminds me of the federation discussion in that I understand the concern from security pureists, but Signal still seems like the better option than an FB managed app or SMS while still providing something my parents can easily use.
- hnarn 4y ago> I'm personally not intentionally trying to evade state governments, I'm concerned about Comcast. There’s a pretty interesting irony, or a joke, buried somewhere in the fact that those living in authoritarian regimes use Signal to evade the regime, while those of us living in the “free world” use it to not primarily evade state owned institutions but the private for-profit institutions that start doing very similar things to the regime. Here’s an attempt at a joke: Q: what’s the difference between your private communications being intercepted in Iran and the US? A: in the US it increases the value of your stock portfolio
- 863862836 4y agoI don't think you can compare Comcast with a government. Governments kill, imprison, and torture people based on the information they collect. The worst Comcast could do it give it to a government, they are not going to do those things to you directly.
- hnarn 4y agoJust because someone draws parallels between A and B doesn’t mean they are claiming exact equivalence.
- malermeister 4y agoComcast might not do those things (yet?), but other private companies sure do: https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/26/world/union-says-coca-cola-in-colombia-uses-thugs.html https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/26/world/union-says-coca-col... https://colombiareports.com/terror-for-profit-colombia-charges-14-former-chiquita-executives/amp/ https://colombiareports.com/terror-for-profit-colombia-charg...
- sneak 4y agoA note: once you have secure messaging, payment coordination is just another form of usage of that messaging channel, same as stickers or photo attachments. It's still a pure messaging app even though it allows sending of photos or payments.