Telegram requires a phone number. That’s a none starter for me. There’s a huge number of services that don’t. This might as well be a honey pot for trapping more lgbt people. Russia has used dating services before in their crackdowns.
That’s probably why I never got a Signal account. Normally, I would point to FireChat, but that was discontinued. Looks like Mesh.im is a replacement? I’ll have to look more into it. Encrypted, p2p, and mesh connections via LAN means it can’t be shutdown if the internet gets restricted during protests.
are you going to get everybody you meet to learn PGP.
When the alternative is to risk getting sent to the front line as a bullet sponge, yeah. Then again, any lgbt people practicing proper infosec isn’t going to be visible to surveys like this.
It does and it sucks. But you can still have adequate protection because knowing your number won’t help authorities much. They have to find you in some group they deem illegal for anything to happen. They must find your account first, then add your number and see if that’s your account. Telegram did some improvements on that issue at some point, so it should take much longer and more resources to do.
Also it’s relatively easy to get a sim card not tied to your passport in Russia. Also using a cheap sim from another country is also an option, since you can set up a cloud password so that even if someone has your sim they won’t access your data fully.
This might as well be a honey pot for trapping more lgbt people.
A service requirement of a telephone number is not a honey spot. But sure some groups are honey spots. Yes, authorities mainly operate within the service. It can get to overwhelming extent but that mist mean they don’t have real backdoor-like access.
Telegram requires a phone number. That’s a none starter for me. There’s a huge number of services that don’t. This might as well be a honey pot for trapping more lgbt people. Russia has used dating services before in their crackdowns.
Just buy a burner. Use it once to sign up and throw it away.
That only works to avoid creeps online. A government would have the resources to track down the paper trail of who bought the burner.
Not when you pay with cash a few towns away.
I can go to a supermarket and buy a phone and SIM for less than £10.
Sound simpler to just use Signal or an encrypted email.
Signal requires a phone number, I use Signal.
How does encrypted email work when we are discussing messaging platforms?
Do you trust using third party encryption keys or are you going to get everybody you meet to learn PGP.
That’s probably why I never got a Signal account. Normally, I would point to FireChat, but that was discontinued. Looks like Mesh.im is a replacement? I’ll have to look more into it. Encrypted, p2p, and mesh connections via LAN means it can’t be shutdown if the internet gets restricted during protests.
When the alternative is to risk getting sent to the front line as a bullet sponge, yeah. Then again, any lgbt people practicing proper infosec isn’t going to be visible to surveys like this.
You’re missing a fundamental issue with these suggestions and even signal. In that the vast majority of people don’t care.
It’s great being on signal with two of my friends whilst the other 50 use WhatsApp which I refuse to do.
oh, I know people don’t care.
It does and it sucks. But you can still have adequate protection because knowing your number won’t help authorities much. They have to find you in some group they deem illegal for anything to happen. They must find your account first, then add your number and see if that’s your account. Telegram did some improvements on that issue at some point, so it should take much longer and more resources to do.
Also it’s relatively easy to get a sim card not tied to your passport in Russia. Also using a cheap sim from another country is also an option, since you can set up a cloud password so that even if someone has your sim they won’t access your data fully.
A service requirement of a telephone number is not a honey spot. But sure some groups are honey spots. Yes, authorities mainly operate within the service. It can get to overwhelming extent but that mist mean they don’t have real backdoor-like access.