this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2021
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Privacy

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Signal Server is effectively closed source software right now (lemmy.ml)
submitted 4 years ago by sseneca@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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The Signal Server repository hasn't been updated since April 2020. There are a bunch of links about this here but I found this thread the most interesting.

To me, this is unforgivable behaviour. Signal always positioned themselves as "open source", and the Server itself is under the best license for server software (AGPLv3 -- which raises questions about the legality of this situation).

Signal's whole approach to open source has constantly been underwhelming to say the least. Their budget-Apple attitude (secrecy, i.e. "we can never engage the community directly", "we will never merge/accept PRs", etc) has lead to its logical conclusion here, I guess. I have been somewhat of a "Signal apologist" thus far (I almost always defend them & I think a lot of criticism they get it very unfair) but yeah I'm over Signal now.

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[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 14 points 4 years ago (1 children)

Another big problem with Signal is the fact that it's centralized with the server being located in US. Even if the protocol itself is secure with the server not having access user data, this presents a huge risk since US government can simply force Signal to shut down the service at any time. The server can also potentially collect metadata about the users providing US security agencies with user connection graphs.

I think that Matrix approach is much more sound, and would always recommend it over Signal.

[–] Seirdy@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 years ago

I wrote about both issues, and why Matrix isn't a perfect solution, previously: part 1, part 2. Starring WhatsApp, Firefox, Signal, XMPP, Email, and Matrix.

Also discussed on Lemmy: part 1, part 2.

Signal's problem is being a closed platform; Matrix suffers primarily from complexity. Both enable dependence on a single small group, and therefore enable user domestication. That being said, Matrix is considerably less bad than Signal.

For large public rooms, IRC continues to be the best option. All its issues are client-side; IRCv3 supports history, multiple devices, authentication without NickServ, and even typing notifications. All these features are supported on Oragono. For small, private E2EE rooms, all existing solutions have major trade-offs.

[–] lorabe@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 years ago (1 children)

Let's be honest, Signal was never an option.

Rather than being free software, signal is more like museum software, you can see, but you cannot touch.

[–] sseneca@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 years ago

A few years ago (2017?) I decided I would move messenger apps. The aim (and what I’ve achieved) was all my messaging going through a secure, private app.

Signal was never an option.

In 2017, Signal really was the only option. Element (Riot, back then) was really bad and didn’t feature e2ee (which only got enabled by default last year!). XMPP was and remains difficult to use (not even many people here use it, how could I expect “normal people” to use it?)

I made the choice to use Signal, and I don’t regret it. I only regret that it has taken until now that we are starting to see a glimmer of a real competitor, in the form of Matrix. But a really competitor to Whatsapp and the like, back in 2017, just didn’t exist outside of Signal.

[–] noflag@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 years ago

+1 i got all my friends on matrix anyways now.

[–] Evoke3626@lemmy.fmhy.ml 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I’ve been recommending Session over signal for a while. It does what’s signal is supposed to do, and more, with even more anonymity

[–] adbenitez@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago)

I recommend Delta Chat, it doesn't needs to create an account since it is just an email client with a chat interface, it is not a replacement for your fancy chat app but for your email app, everyone have email, so will need an email app anyway, it makes email easy to use and encrypted out of the box without your friends having to know what encryption means.

I like XMPP but UI/UX is really poor, it is surprising that this email client has a much better UI/UX than Conversations, it has swipe to reply, etc. I found Conversations ridiculously "hard" to use, blabber.im improves a lot of small details that have an impact in the users every day workflow

https://delta.chat

[–] ihaphleas@lemmy.ml 0 points 4 years ago

Signal is the easiest alternative to WhatsApp for now. But we need to be moving to something like Jami.