I saw some threads here about Telegram and piracy stuff being banned. So, as an experimental alternative, I created a public Signal group for piracy.
Maybe it’ll be useful?
Before joining
Signal supports usernames and hiding telephone numbers. Here’s a blog entry on how to do so. You might want to:
- set a username
- change your profile name (these are two separate things!)
- hide your phone number
You might try a Matrix group instead. Doesn’t require a phone number and supports more than 1000 users unlike Signal. Search is bad though unfortunately.
Will a simplex group better? Nothing identifiable.
SimpleX all the way
Is there a simplex group we can join?
The problem is Signal supports up to 1000 people group chat, so it’s better to find something different
How big were the telegram chat rooms? Did they ever get that big? The only chatroom I’ve seen with over 1k people is on matrix and it was relatively quiet. If there’s a 1k limit, probably the admin will have to kick inactive users.
Way bigger. You could have many thousands.
What the fuck? I’ve never seen a chatroom that big. Must be absolute chaos…
Or are those “just” distribution channels aka admin only posts?
Thoose given are distrubution channels, but there are group chats like t.me/durovschat which is 12k members. I forgot the limits which i think is 200k for chatroom and infinite(?) for distrubution channels
Edit: yeah its 200k and infinite in “broadcast groups”
I thought signing up for Signal required a phone number and phone app – and all phones have IMEI besides many other nightmare anti-features.
For the normies it’s fine but tbh I’m not sure it’s as advertised.
What ever happened to that odd old app called tox?
Honestly I could see a version of DeltaChat + GPG make some gains in popularity but I would argue the email relay servers and spam lists are rigged for max surveillance.
Are we at the point where tech from 20 years ago may be the way lmao.
XMPP, IRC, ICQ /s
Matrix is probably the best bet but some of their apps and clients seem like dogshit. And I am saying that as someone who uses them daily. And the whole “server” thing is a PITA, or it used to be at least.
I guess we’ll just have to use carrier pidgin and cypherto encrypt the cat gifs /s
Yeah, for me personally I’m sticking to simplex. I can get an anonymous sim card, but none of the people I’d be talking to would do that. I don’t want this relationship/network map out there at all if I can avoid it.
What makes you think Signal is maintaining relationship maps, and secondly, even if it is, is there any evidence they’re included in LEO subpoenas?
There is no evidence. safety is about staying multiple steps ahead and risk mitigation when possible.
Centralized servers are a single point of failure that could be compromised in the future.
My contact’s devices they use signal on are insecure and could be easily compromised in the future.
SMS/Cell network in general are insecure as hell and I avoid it as much as possible.
Why would I expose all that sensitive data when there’s literally no need to? Simplex works great for me.
Then create a simplex group and invite everybody there.
Good idea overall, unfortunately they still have your IP and phone number which means Europeans are still implicated
The phone number is not connected to the messages. That’s the only thing they have. It is the best app for privacy.
Arguable in it being “the best app for privacy”. Can you link to a source which shows that phone numbers are not linked to accounts? (Why do they need them anyway?)
They have published requests from the law enforcement and their responses to these requests. The only unencrypted data they have is the phone number, a date of sign up and a date of the last login. That is it, everything else is encrypted and they cannot access it whatsoever.
The problem is, if you’re in Europe, your phone number is associated with your identity
No you don’t.
I can go to the corner shop/local garage right now, buy a SIM card for 99p and then buy a top-up voucher in cash to have a completely anonymous phone number.
Albeit is the UK in Europe again? 🙈
edit: where I would be worried if my privacy was on the line is I could also go to the local pawn shop / Cash Converters to ensure that SIM card isn’t associated with an IMEI I’ve previously used and buy in cash a cheapo phone.
Same in a few other European countries. I’m doing it right now with a few SIMs. You can also go on holiday to another country, get a few temporary SIMs there for a few quid and fly back home with the “contraband”. Really not hard.
Aye, I’ve seen this misconception before and suspect it’s specific countries in the European continent where you have to register.
The last time I bought a SIM in the UK I was told specifically I could not buy it with cash.
I don’t know if you’re in the UK right now but I can tell you right now that I can go round the corner and buy a SIM card in cash plus a top-up voucher, from someone like this guy
https://www.coregroup.co.uk/assets/img/cards/independent-retail-sim-distribution.jpg
Signal doesn’t collect IPs and therefore can’t even hand them out. It’s been requested in 2021. Here’s a list of requests from authorities they were allowed to publish. I’ve looked through 3 of the most recent and nowhere do they reveal IPs.
Sure they don’t log the IPs, but it is technically impossible to not know the IP when you’re running a centralized service.
What are the “popular” alternatives? Telegram stores everything, WhatsApp doesn’t allow usernames, Matrix requires IPs too…
SimpleX
Despite their claims of total privacy, I imagine, like any software company, they have full access to their own back end including encryption keys and server logs. Meaning they can and probably will moderate their own platform if there is enough pressure from nation states/IP owners.
You are welcome to audit the source code and host the backend yourself.
You understand that, for everyone except for a complete network pro, that is worse for security and privacy, right?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that you can.
But the reason piracy websites struggle so much with long term stability isn’t because they’re hosting the wrong software.
