they’re both garbage because they exclusively use telephone numbers.
phone numbers are a hassle to get, so most people don’t have more than one - which is the the first thing someone needs to steal your identity, and the only thing necessary to track your location (for anyone with access to the tools). you should never publish the phone number that you use for 2fa. if you’re concerned about privacy and carry a phone, you shouldn’t reveal the number of the SIM in the phone you carry to people you don’t trust.
signal and telegram require that you share a phone number with anyone you want to communicate with. this hasn’t made any sense since around the time signal was called “textsecure” and actually used SMS as a transport.
ok, i see i was mistaken about telegram requiring you to reveal your phone number to everyone you talk to, but, you still need one to sign up which makes it unsuitable for anyone who cares about privacy (and potentially harmful to those who don’t, even if they don’t realize it).
While I do agree that Signal should implement a way to register without a phone number, saying “they are garbage” is not helpful to the conversation.
That kind of statement is also inaccurate, in my opinion. It highly depends onyour threat model, which is something that is often overlooked in these kind of threads. Not everyone has the same needs or is able to make the same sacrifices for privacy, and I’d say Signal is a very good option for the vast majority of people getting into a more privacy-oriented tech “lifestyle” (not the best word, but can’t think of a better one rn).
requiring one just for registration would still make it garbage, but, last I checked it was also the only identifier. did they add usernames recently or something? searching for a minute I don’t see anything like that.
they’re both garbage because they exclusively use telephone numbers.
phone numbers are a hassle to get, so most people don’t have more than one - which is the the first thing someone needs to steal your identity, and the only thing necessary to track your location (for anyone with access to the tools). you should never publish the phone number that you use for 2fa. if you’re concerned about privacy and carry a phone, you shouldn’t reveal the number of the SIM in the phone you carry to people you don’t trust.
signal and telegram require that you share a phone number with anyone you want to communicate with. this hasn’t made any sense since around the time signal was called “textsecure” and actually used SMS as a transport.
tldr: they’re both garbage.
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ok, i see i was mistaken about telegram requiring you to reveal your phone number to everyone you talk to, but, you still need one to sign up which makes it unsuitable for anyone who cares about privacy (and potentially harmful to those who don’t, even if they don’t realize it).
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While I do agree that Signal should implement a way to register without a phone number, saying “they are garbage” is not helpful to the conversation.
That kind of statement is also inaccurate, in my opinion. It highly depends onyour threat model, which is something that is often overlooked in these kind of threads. Not everyone has the same needs or is able to make the same sacrifices for privacy, and I’d say Signal is a very good option for the vast majority of people getting into a more privacy-oriented tech “lifestyle” (not the best word, but can’t think of a better one rn).
The phone number is used only for registration by Signal. It’s not used as a ID for registration.
requiring one just for registration would still make it garbage, but, last I checked it was also the only identifier. did they add usernames recently or something? searching for a minute I don’t see anything like that.