Signal is American
Opt for a Matrix or XMPP provider in Europe (magicbroccoli.de is a genuinely great XMPP provider)
this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2025
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Also simplex is a good alternative, it's decentralized:)
This? https://https/://simplex.chat/
FWIW Matrix and XMPP are also decentralised, much like e-mail is, which is why I recommended it. I'm immediately skeptic about SimpleX's premise of having no user IDs; they'll likely need some unique field for each user, this might as well be a UUID or something like that... So what's the benefit?
Since it's related, here's a good comparison:
https://eylenburg.github.io/im_comparison.htm
I think the other person here explained the thing about user ids. Matrix and xmpp are good too, they're just different.
Simplex is more of a messenger, while xmpp/matrix are more of discord alternatives.
Also simplex works with nodes. I can host a simplex server and it will be added to the network. In matrix/xmpp if I host a server it will be a new instance, like in lemmy (if I get it right). Simplex's approach is like tor's approach, each server added contributes to the whole network (they arent a separate instance).
If you check their page they have some bery good features, to me it seems like its signal, done (somewhat) right. Signal doesnt even have a proper way to migrate accounts across devices.. not to mention the phone number requirement which might scare people who aren't gonna waste time hearing my explanation as to why it's not an issue or the fact that until recently signal would notify everyone in your contacts who had a signal account that you made an account, bruh
There's also this comment here that throws some shade to matrix, havent looked much into that tho.
Oh that is a great explanation, thanks a bunch!
librewolf is still dependent on firefox for development, just like vivaldi is on chrome. there is no european web browser.
For FF and Chromium to, their source is open so if there ever was a need to make it fully European, it would be doable. Or did I miss something? (novice question, here)
in addition to the other reply, the teams working on browsers are massive. over 500 developers for each, and that's only the core teams without external contributors. you don't just put together a team like that in an afternoon.
Yes, I can imagine that. Thx (too ;))
I got a security alert when clicking the link, I did not push further sorry ;)
Because it's not using https. While https is certainly preferable, as long as you're just reading info of a website (not making an account, entering data) http is pretty much fine.
Modern Browsers just don't like it (which is also understandable, because most users probably don't care about the nuances of when it is or isn't a problem).
I see, thx.
Startpage? (based in Netherlands). I mean it’s a frontend for google, but ecosia is a frontend for bing. And startpage has a no log policy which beats ecosia.
Yeah, websearch is a huge undertaking, there is an European initiative but it's not ready for use ... Can't find it now though, ironically. It wasn't the one by Ecosia and Qwant but a European Union initated research project.
Startpage gives very good results, I recall reading somewhere that they use search results from Google, but I honestly don't know. I use it over Ecosia because it has slightly better results and is more privacy focused. Plus I never click any adverts, so Ecosia wouldn't generate an awful lot of trees from my usage haha.
I also used Qwant, but the search results weren't great for more complex search queries.
Isn't signal owned by a single company with backend infrastructure all Managed by them and only them?
The current CEO is nice, for sure, but she won't be there forever. Look at what Mozilla just did, this eventually WILL happen to signal too
What alternatives are there form something like signal?
For more varied and detailed recommendations, these might be useful:
https://www.privacyguides.org/en/desktop/
https://www.privacyguides.org/en/desktop-browsers/
Wait, wasn't Vivaldi bought by a Chinese conglomerate?
Isn't ecosia paying ~~Google~~ Bing for its results?
Edit: changed Google to Bing.
Yes, but ecosia is currently building a European search index together with qwant. In my view, the two are therefore worth supporting
They're planning to eventually switch to a european index alongside Qwant.
So is Startpage, if I recall correctly.
Startpage is based on Google.
Already done most of those, whatsapp is the hardest to replace for me from this category.
Whatsapp/Facebook is probably one of the biggest offenders. They're one of the ones that got us into this mess.
If you want to use large language models or other generative predictive models (I refuse to call it AI) then I suggest considering self hosting those models for ultimate control of the information you provide.
It would've been perfect if it recommended matrix instead of american-owned signal.