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Signal already allows you to sign-up without a SIM card: you can use a landline number and voice call verification... WhatsApp Business allows landline numbers

by ale42 4y ago

Signal already allows you to sign-up without a SIM card: you can use a landline number and voice call verification... WhatsApp Business allows landline numbers too, by the way.

j4nek 4y ago
Threema doesn't even needs a telephone number.
- Aachen 4y ago
  Just needs a payment method Which I can see the point of for a good app, which it is. But in terms of "anonymity for the masses" it's a hard sell when you could use Element with roughly the same features if less stability.
oefrha 4y ago
I can assure you when people talk about signing up without a SIM what they have in mind isn’t landline.
- throwaway290 4y ago
  I would have been fine with a landline, but for some reason did not realize it was possible with Signal. Maybe call verification got implemented after I signed up... And for the purposes of anonymity I am definitely more fine with a landline than any method that requires me to make a payment
  - ale42 4y ago
    > but for some reason did not realize it was possible with Signal. I don't think it's something they make very obvious. It also used to be broken for non-US numbers for more than one year at some point...
rvz 4y ago
So you still need a phone number to sign up. Instant no thanks and no deal.
- nottorp 4y ago
  Yep, people aren't objecting that they don't have enough methods to give them a phone number. People are objecting to giving them a phone number at all.
antisocialist 4y ago
Landline is even worse. Do they rent burner landlines? xx Messenger also doesn't require any identification. And unlike Threema: - it's open source (https://git.xx.network/elixxir/); https://git.xx.network/elixxir/); Android users can build it on their own and load from F-Droid - it uses blockchain - no big attachments for time being, but once they come (in 2 months, I hope) they'll be affordable and stored encrypted on IPFS - no data collection of any kind - (my guess) better privacy and security - less polished - optionally searchable by in-app nick or phone number, or not, in which case you get a cryptographic ID. Identity can be backed up to SFTP and restored from it Unlike Telegram, xx Messenger app has a publisher, but the app can be installed independently (F-Droid) and there's no centralized entity that runs messaging gateways that can deliver any data about your identity or communications. Not related to parent comment, but I see some people are bitching about the use of blockchains as if they've figured out a way for Signal or Telegram to provide for their messaging needs without selling ads or metadata. If funding free messengers was easy and blockchain merely a distraction, Signal wouldn't have those pop-ups that reminder you to donate.
- ale42 4y ago
  > Landline is even worse. Do they rent burner landlines? You can try with VoIP, usually works as well. The point is, some people seem to assume that "no-SIM" means "anonymous", but to many others "no-SIM" means just "without a need for a mobile phone/number". So it's just a question of interpretation. There are many uses for "without a mobile number" that don't have the "anonymous" requirement.

by ale42 4y ago

Signal already allows you to sign-up without a SIM card: you can use a landline number and voice call verification... WhatsApp Business allows landline numbers too, by the way.

j4nek 4y ago

Threema doesn't even needs a telephone number.

Aachen 4y ago
Just needs a payment method Which I can see the point of for a good app, which it is. But in terms of "anonymity for the masses" it's a hard sell when you could use Element with roughly the same features if less stability.

oefrha 4y ago

I can assure you when people talk about signing up without a SIM what they have in mind isn’t landline.

throwaway290 4y ago
I would have been fine with a landline, but for some reason did not realize it was possible with Signal. Maybe call verification got implemented after I signed up... And for the purposes of anonymity I am definitely more fine with a landline than any method that requires me to make a payment
- ale42 4y ago
  > but for some reason did not realize it was possible with Signal. I don't think it's something they make very obvious. It also used to be broken for non-US numbers for more than one year at some point...

rvz 4y ago

So you still need a phone number to sign up. Instant no thanks and no deal.

nottorp 4y ago
Yep, people aren't objecting that they don't have enough methods to give them a phone number. People are objecting to giving them a phone number at all.

antisocialist 4y ago

Landline is even worse. Do they rent burner landlines? xx Messenger also doesn't require any identification. And unlike Threema: - it's open source (https://git.xx.network/elixxir/); https://git.xx.network/elixxir/); Android users can build it on their own and load from F-Droid - it uses blockchain - no big attachments for time being, but once they come (in 2 months, I hope) they'll be affordable and stored encrypted on IPFS - no data collection of any kind - (my guess) better privacy and security - less polished - optionally searchable by in-app nick or phone number, or not, in which case you get a cryptographic ID. Identity can be backed up to SFTP and restored from it Unlike Telegram, xx Messenger app has a publisher, but the app can be installed independently (F-Droid) and there's no centralized entity that runs messaging gateways that can deliver any data about your identity or communications. Not related to parent comment, but I see some people are bitching about the use of blockchains as if they've figured out a way for Signal or Telegram to provide for their messaging needs without selling ads or metadata. If funding free messengers was easy and blockchain merely a distraction, Signal wouldn't have those pop-ups that reminder you to donate.

ale42 4y ago
> Landline is even worse. Do they rent burner landlines? You can try with VoIP, usually works as well. The point is, some people seem to assume that "no-SIM" means "anonymous", but to many others "no-SIM" means just "without a need for a mobile phone/number". So it's just a question of interpretation. There are many uses for "without a mobile number" that don't have the "anonymous" requirement.