I've been hearing a lot of buzz about Telegram all at once recently (which automatically gets me suspicious that it is astroturfed but suspicion isn't proof). Might be because of the recent threats of censorship. Is it safe to use or are all the wrongthinkers being herded on there for some other reason? Does the company and the technology check out as secure? What about other platforms? I've seen mixed message here and there in comments.
Bitchute seemed good but I think they're going to be a big target next from the left with the obvious floods of wrongthinkers going there. They also use Disqus for comments, which seems a bad idea as that company are happy to remove non-PC people and is open about the mass gathering and usage of your information at every possible opportunity like FB would (while Bitchute are trying to reassure people that their part of the service doesn't do that). A comments section surely isn't hard for them to do compared to the video hosting? Would appreciate advice from wiser and more experienced heads on what video, messaging, etc. platforms are secure, not honeypots and don't have dodgy owners or leaders.
Wiglaf ago
God dam it is asking you to give a phone number to sign up? What is this bullshit? Why is it advertising itself as so secure and anonymous if it there is a gate to get in that asks people to give their details first?
RealBiggly ago
I use it with clients and never had an issue. The encryption is good and they seem to take privacy more seriously than Whatsapp, which is owned by Facebook. First started using it as they have a PC version that can run without a browser, which is ideal for sharing documents. Even today Whatsapp on a PC means opening a web page and they have to have contact with your phone at all times. I can use Telegram with my phone turned off (I think)
Wiglaf ago
That sounds better than the competition, at least. Is the browser or app version more secure or easier to use?
RealBiggly ago
I don't know if Telegram has a browser version. I imagine it does and would imagine the actual downloaded app would be more secure. It's also available for Linux, which is generally the most secure system, but obviously you need to trust the software itself. That is easy enough to do as the full source code is on Github:
https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop
I went through a phase of trying to get friends to use it over whatsapp but people stick with what they know, unless they're paying you money and then they do what you tell them, strangely enough.
Wiglaf ago
Ah that's fantastic that the code is out there for people to scrutinize as it does reduce some risks of shenanigans. Thanks for the help. Maybe with enough time you can prod people into dumping whatsapp or other less secure systems. Someone knowing their stuff talking about it makes a difference.
SearchVoatBot ago
This submission was linked from this v/whatever submission by @Delacourt.
Posted automatically (#46642) by the SearchVoat.co Cross-Link Bot. You can suppress these notifications by appending a forward-slash(/) to your Voat link. More information here.
kevlarrr ago
If you cannot access it without ID'ing yourself with a phone#/text or access it anonymously through a vpn or tor, then it is build from the ground up to track you. That is where their profits come from.
Wiglaf ago
Yeah, that's what I was thinking about some of these sites that kind of pander to the privacy concerns yet seem very keen on demanding identifiable information straight away or to actually use the service properly. Mass sales of info might be the profit model. Even more worrying though if they're luring the dissident right on there and imagine what that info could be worth to certain people if they them in that bubble to spy on? At least on a place like this you can assume messages are public, but on some of these things you might wrongly assume it is private. Reminds me of the discord leak warnings I keep hearing too.
kevlarrr ago
The crypto\blockchain space is the best bet for this type of thing. The encryption used has to be safe enough to protect millions of dollars, any messaging or chat has to be secure enough to protect your private wallet keys, and it's opensource so it can be audited. Something like Keybase.io is a good start, if they ever add in a facebook type thing it could catch on.
Wiglaf ago
This sounds pretty smart. You've got built in incentives that way for it to stay secure, have some confidence in it being provably so and a good foundation to start with. We might just see something like this.
Delacourt ago
This is a good question. Unfortunately I don't know for sure. I'm hesistant about Telegram though due to its requirement for a phone number.
Wiglaf ago
That is an element that concerns me too and any claims of being secure and private.
DeliciousOnions ago
You can give it a bogus phone number and I'll accept many kinds. Hell, just get a cheap burner phone and you can get a disposable phone number for $35