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Misleading claims about privacy isn't surprising coming from Telegram, who have consistently marketed themselves as a secure messenger comparable to Signal/What

Misleading claims about privacy isn't surprising coming from Telegram, who have consistently marketed themselves as a secure messenger comparable to Signal/WhatsApp in spite of the fact that the vast majority of messages are not end-to-end encrypted. There's a reason that a 2017 study called Telegram the [security blanket of the chat world](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319622415_The_Security_Blanket_of_the_Chat_World_An_Analytic_Evaluation_and_a_User_Study_of_Telegram https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319622415_The_Secur...).

0xy 4y ago
WhatsApp pushes users to backup keys to Google Drive, so even if you haven't done that your conversation partner might have. So unless you call Google holding the private keys 'E2E encryption', then it isn't. Signal had a bug where it sent private photos to random contacts, so it seems like that can't possibly be called safe either, if they're making junior level UI state mistakes like that (it's also not E2E encryption if the app switches one of the ends without your consent).
dijit 4y ago
The material difference between E2EE (where the network controls the client completely and pays lip service to reproducible builds) and encrypted traffic to the network itself: is not actually all that different in reality. If signal wants to be seen as better; third party clients are a huge step.. Failing that: provably P2P messaging. As it stands it's only really "better" on paper, you still have to trust the network provider.
- sa1 4y ago
  They are not encouraged or supported but third party clients for both signal and WhatsApp exist, allowing you to have verified e2ee chats.
  - dijit 4y ago
    > They are not encouraged or supported but third party clients for both signal and WhatsApp exist That’s a really weird way to say: aggressively discouraged. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26469007 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26469007 https://techjaja.com/whatsapp-shuts-down-users-of-3rd-party-clients-like-whatsapp-plus/ https://techjaja.com/whatsapp-shuts-down-users-of-3rd-party-...

0xy 4y ago

WhatsApp pushes users to backup keys to Google Drive, so even if you haven't done that your conversation partner might have. So unless you call Google holding the private keys 'E2E encryption', then it isn't. Signal had a bug where it sent private photos to random contacts, so it seems like that can't possibly be called safe either, if they're making junior level UI state mistakes like that (it's also not E2E encryption if the app switches one of the ends without your consent).

dijit 4y ago

The material difference between E2EE (where the network controls the client completely and pays lip service to reproducible builds) and encrypted traffic to the network itself: is not actually all that different in reality. If signal wants to be seen as better; third party clients are a huge step.. Failing that: provably P2P messaging. As it stands it's only really "better" on paper, you still have to trust the network provider.

sa1 4y ago
They are not encouraged or supported but third party clients for both signal and WhatsApp exist, allowing you to have verified e2ee chats.
- dijit 4y ago
  > They are not encouraged or supported but third party clients for both signal and WhatsApp exist That’s a really weird way to say: aggressively discouraged. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26469007 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26469007 https://techjaja.com/whatsapp-shuts-down-users-of-3rd-party-clients-like-whatsapp-plus/ https://techjaja.com/whatsapp-shuts-down-users-of-3rd-party-...