A support site for the Signal app with these topics:
* Getting Started
* Features
* Security
* Troubleshooting
* General

https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I suppose if you're a member of an esoteric fringe group that will likely be targeted in the future like conservative religious white males, it might be nice to have a way to communicate with other members of your group.

If only members of "esoteric fringe groups" use it, all those in power who wish to do so need do is force Signal to shut down their servers and force the carriers to block Signal network traffic to render it non-functional.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

quote:

Originally posted by BB61:
Unfortunately, I can't get all of my family to switch from messenger.

Same.

I've simply told those who wish to communicate with me they have three choices: Phone/text, Facetime, or Signal.

I absolutely refuse to have anything from Meta installed on my mobile devices. Period. Besides: Why should I be the one to bend to their desires?

Since family on my wife's side are all in Europe, so phone calls and texting cost them money, and most of them don't use iThings, so no Facetime, the ones who've wished to communicate with me have installed Signal.

A funny thing happened: The ones who've installed SPM are now preferring it over other options to communicate with my wife, who also has FB Messenger and, I think, Telegram installed.

I use Signal for communicating with a likeminded friend who doesn't want our conversations monitored; and with a missionary in a "closed country" who is very security-conscious for good reason.

Thank you, ensigmatic, for the great graphic. A lot of people I know use WhatsApp. I was told when in Africa that the government took transcripts of an individual's WhatsApp messages to that individual to let him know he was being monitored and what they had on him. Second- or third-hand anecdote, but believable.

I don't encourage people who are not security-minded to use Signal. I hate it that my daughter and son-in-law have Google phones, but at least daughter now has an iPad and a MacBook Air.

For e-mail: I looked in to getting proton mail some years ago, but at that time was satisfied with Apple's email service. Recently saw that a missionary in a "closed country" had proton mail, commented on that to a friend who nodded in agreement that person was serious about internet security. If you're still using G-mail, for God's sake get rid of it.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Thank you, ensigmatic, for the great graphic. A lot of people I know use WhatsApp. I was told when in Africa that the government took transcripts of an individual's WhatsApp messages to that individual to let him know he was being monitored and what they had on him. Second- or third-hand anecdote, but believable.

WhatsApp is E2E (end-to-end) encrypted, just like Signal Private Messenger. In fact: It's the same protocol. So that should not be possible.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
I don't encourage people who are not security-minded to use Signal.

I encourage everybody to use it

What is this "Story" shit?

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
What is this "Story" shit?

Yeah. I don’t get that. There’s no real point to it.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
I use Signal for communicating with a likeminded friend who doesn't want our conversations monitored; and with a missionary in a "closed country" who is very security-conscious for good reason.
<snip>

That raises a question in my mind. Since a Signal message is transported over the Internet, simple analysis can recognize whether or not it’s an encrypted message with a high probability of correctness.

A snoop wouldn’t likely be able to decode it, but could a snoop determine the identity of the sender or recipient of a Signal message? That seems like a potential hazard.

I looked at the “Security” tab in the link at the top of this page, but didn’t see my question addressed.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
A snoop wouldn’t likely be able to decode it, ...

Not in real time, anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
... but could a snoop determine the identity of the sender or recipient of a Signal message?

I imagine that, unless VPNs were used or the users were using public WiFi hotspots, they might eventually be able to discover the identity of sender and/or receiver from the source and destination IP addresses, but they'd have to get that info from a carrier or ISP.

I've never actually looked into SPM's protocol.

I used Signal for years with a very small group of people. I recently deleted it because, for some unknown reason, I began to receive un-solicited "friend requests" from people I have no idea who they were, nor why they would want me. I never opened the messages, but the subject sounded like a scam or onlyfans come-on. How this happened is beyond me, but I have no faith in the security of an App that allows un-solicited contacts. While it is possible that one of my contacts got hacked and my information stolen from their device to spam me, I am skeptical, because they would also have my regular email address and phone number, yet I don't get the same type of weird contacts via these routes.

quote:

Originally posted by DrDan:
I used Signal for years with a very small group of people. I recently deleted it because, for some unknown reason, I began to receive un-solicited "friend requests" from people I have no idea who they were, nor why they would want me.

As you know: Signal Private Messenger (currently) uses ones phone number to identify users. Thus, for somebody to send you an unsolicited message request all they need is a valid phone number.

quote:

Originally posted by DrDan:
How this happened is beyond me, but I have no faith in the security of an App that allows un-solicited contacts.

See: Why You're Getting So Much Signal Spam (and What You Can Do)

It would be nice if Signal had an option to block message requests from anybody not on your Contacts list. Perhaps, with the rise in SPM spam, they'll add it someday.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by DrDan:

See: Why You're Getting So Much Signal Spam (and What You Can Do)

Thanks for the explanation!

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
<<snip>> It’s free, and looks like no hassle. And it probably annoys the Feds. <<snip>>

That alone is enough for me to try it!!!