5 ms·

Imagine Hamas are your government and want to figure out who's gay. You don't want a MITM in case they can do this. Pick your definition of safe.

trashb 8mo ago
In that case don't use Tiktok dm's to discuss your sexuality. I think it is strange that people feel like they have to be able to talk on sensitive topics over every interface they can get their hands on. Similarly in "traditional" media you may not want to discuss such private conversation on a radio broadcast. Perhaps you would rather discuss it on the phone or over snail mail as there is more of an expectation of privacy on those medium.
- danlitt 8mo ago
  > there is more of an expectation of privacy on those medium What does the "p" in "pm" stand for?
  - trashb 8mo ago
    excuse me, I confused "Private messages" (pm) for "Direct messages" (dm). I will update above
    - danlitt 8mo ago
      I don't think you confused anything, except for the terminology the platform uses. There is an obvious expectation of privacy when sending direct messages!
      - sleepybrett 8mo ago
        Hasn't been true ANYTIME IN HISTORY. Hell it was well understood even by children that no conversation you had on the telephone was truly private. That's why cyphers were invented.
        danlitt 8mo ago
        What are you talking about? It is illegal to tap people's phone lines or to interfere with mail. Are you saying people don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy even when it's illegal to be spied on?
        sleepybrett 8mo ago
        'Illegal' doesn't really mean anything in this, or any other, day and age when you are talking about the very rich, the very powerful, or the state. The good thing about e2ee is that it probably makes the list of those with the ability to decrypt things encrypted e2e somewhat smaller. Fact is hacking can get to those keys. (i.e. state actor zero-click exploits your phone they are going to be able to get your private key and the messages in memory)
        danlitt 8mo ago
        > 'Illegal' doesn't really mean anything in this This is a thread arguing about what the law should be. > Fact is hacking can get to those keys. Everything made by humans is fallible.
  - gzread 8mo ago
    it stands for "not a public timeline post"
    - danlitt 8mo ago
      It should be obvious from how contrived your wording is that nobody thinks of them this way.
- philipallstar 8mo ago
  I'm commenting in the context of the conversation, not in a vacuum. You could just as (in fact, much more) easily say that children shouldn't be on apps with private messaging enabled. That would help a lot more, and then we could keep e2ee.
- roughly 8mo ago
  Right, but it currently isn't a sensitive topic - homosexuality is, as of 2026, broadly legal in the United States. That's a relatively new state of affairs, historically speaking, and one which Afghanistan shared as recently as 2021.
miki123211 8mo ago
This is fine if you have TLS encryption and the platform is not local. Sure, they can fabricate some evidence and get access to your messages, in which case, valid point.

trashb 8mo ago

In that case don't use Tiktok dm's to discuss your sexuality. I think it is strange that people feel like they have to be able to talk on sensitive topics over every interface they can get their hands on. Similarly in "traditional" media you may not want to discuss such private conversation on a radio broadcast. Perhaps you would rather discuss it on the phone or over snail mail as there is more of an expectation of privacy on those medium.

danlitt 8mo ago
> there is more of an expectation of privacy on those medium What does the "p" in "pm" stand for?
- trashb 8mo ago
  excuse me, I confused "Private messages" (pm) for "Direct messages" (dm). I will update above
  - danlitt 8mo ago
    I don't think you confused anything, except for the terminology the platform uses. There is an obvious expectation of privacy when sending direct messages!
    - sleepybrett 8mo ago
      Hasn't been true ANYTIME IN HISTORY. Hell it was well understood even by children that no conversation you had on the telephone was truly private. That's why cyphers were invented.
      - danlitt 8mo ago
        What are you talking about? It is illegal to tap people's phone lines or to interfere with mail. Are you saying people don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy even when it's illegal to be spied on?
        sleepybrett 8mo ago
        'Illegal' doesn't really mean anything in this, or any other, day and age when you are talking about the very rich, the very powerful, or the state. The good thing about e2ee is that it probably makes the list of those with the ability to decrypt things encrypted e2e somewhat smaller. Fact is hacking can get to those keys. (i.e. state actor zero-click exploits your phone they are going to be able to get your private key and the messages in memory)
        danlitt 8mo ago
        > 'Illegal' doesn't really mean anything in this This is a thread arguing about what the law should be. > Fact is hacking can get to those keys. Everything made by humans is fallible.
- gzread 8mo ago
  it stands for "not a public timeline post"
  - danlitt 8mo ago
    It should be obvious from how contrived your wording is that nobody thinks of them this way.
philipallstar 8mo ago
I'm commenting in the context of the conversation, not in a vacuum. You could just as (in fact, much more) easily say that children shouldn't be on apps with private messaging enabled. That would help a lot more, and then we could keep e2ee.
roughly 8mo ago
Right, but it currently isn't a sensitive topic - homosexuality is, as of 2026, broadly legal in the United States. That's a relatively new state of affairs, historically speaking, and one which Afghanistan shared as recently as 2021.

miki123211 8mo ago

This is fine if you have TLS encryption and the platform is not local. Sure, they can fabricate some evidence and get access to your messages, in which case, valid point.