Finally, we can have usernames in Signal instead of giving our phone number to everybody.

  • Radiant_sir_radiant@beehaw.org
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    8 months ago

    If that’s a concern you could also always use Threema, which has been built from the ground up to use anonymous random IDs and optionally lets you link a phone number or e-mail address to that ID. The company has also won important court cases against having to store metadata preemptively and responding to blanket requests by law enforcement.

    • Rikj000@discuss.tchncs.de
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      8 months ago

      I never heard about Threema before,
      quickly glanced at it’s Github repo,
      but I think I prefer Matrix/Element over it.

      Threema seems to largely rely om GMS (Google Messaging Service),
      meaning that most messages will go through Google’s servers,
      albeit end-to-end encrypted for now,
      I would not be suprised if Google would participate in “Harvest now, Decrypt later”.

      • Radiant_sir_radiant@beehaw.org
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        8 months ago

        There’s actually an option to turn GMS off entirely if that’s a concern (Settings–>About–>Advanced). It comes at the cost of slightly increased battery usage. Sadly Google does have a bit of a monopoly on mainstream Android there.
        Having said that, the messages themselves should never pass Google’s servers, just a packet saying “check your Threema server, there’s new stuff waiting for you.”