3 ms·

Why is this feature bad? As someone who develops apps for confidential conversations, making it harder for people to screenshot the confidential stuff is a fea

by EGreg 2mo ago

Why is this feature bad? As someone who develops apps for confidential conversations, making it harder for people to screenshot the confidential stuff is a feature the sending party wants, that is why they send in your app as opposed to others. It doesn’t make things impossible, just hard enough that 95% of people won’t bother to take a copy. Same for example with disappearing audio messages on whatsapp What I don’t like is the app being informed that I took a screenshot. The OS can hide things in screenshots without this.

stronglikedan 2mo ago
Don't send me anything you don't want screenshotted. Easy-peasy. I'll accept an opt-out of whatever protections are in place for the general user, but I don't accept that those protections should remain in place for all users. It's hostile.
nemomarx 2mo ago
One user wants it not to be shared, but the other user might have various reasons to want to take that screenshot - maybe it's evidence of something they need to share urgently with others, whatever. It's definitely hostile to that other user. I get why you'd set it up that way, but it's a tension that really goes against the "full control of your own device" ideal a lot of people have.
seany 2mo ago
It's mostly dumb because of obvious analog loop holes. I at minimum carry 4 devices with cameras, often as many as 12. If I want to capture the disappearing message... I will do it; making it annoying just makes me pissed at the developer + the is.
_carbyau_ 2mo ago
Honestly, even schoolkids know to have another phone/camera(usually a friends) take a picture of their phone screen. In a world where people have multiple old phones lying around it isn't that hard to come up with this workaround. If you send it, it is no longer yours to control. If it is my phone, it should be mine to control. Too often it really isn't my phone...
zahlman 2mo ago
If you can't trust the intended recipient, a secure communication channel is pointless.

by EGreg 2mo ago

stronglikedan 2mo ago

Don't send me anything you don't want screenshotted. Easy-peasy. I'll accept an opt-out of whatever protections are in place for the general user, but I don't accept that those protections should remain in place for all users. It's hostile.

nemomarx 2mo ago

One user wants it not to be shared, but the other user might have various reasons to want to take that screenshot - maybe it's evidence of something they need to share urgently with others, whatever. It's definitely hostile to that other user. I get why you'd set it up that way, but it's a tension that really goes against the "full control of your own device" ideal a lot of people have.

seany 2mo ago

It's mostly dumb because of obvious analog loop holes. I at minimum carry 4 devices with cameras, often as many as 12. If I want to capture the disappearing message... I will do it; making it annoying just makes me pissed at the developer + the is.

_carbyau_ 2mo ago

Honestly, even schoolkids know to have another phone/camera(usually a friends) take a picture of their phone screen. In a world where people have multiple old phones lying around it isn't that hard to come up with this workaround. If you send it, it is no longer yours to control. If it is my phone, it should be mine to control. Too often it really isn't my phone...

zahlman 2mo ago

If you can't trust the intended recipient, a secure communication channel is pointless.