
Free, Worldwide, Encrypted Phone Calls for iPhone (2014) - jorgecorrales
https://whispersystems.org/blog/signal/
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LeoPanthera
Signal is not new - this post is from 29 Jul 2014.

For me, it's nearly the perfect encrypted IM app, but it would be nice if you
could use it without tying it to a phone number.

~~~
chakalakasp
Yes - in fact, because so few people use Signal, having two people who know
each other who you also know appear in your Signal phone book probably means
they are talking to each other. Which might be a problmeatic metadata leak in
some cases.

~~~
brbsix
Agreed. It also alerts you with "X is on Signal, say hey!" notifications when
someone in your contacts signs up. I've brought this up before on HN and the
Signal issue tracker [0] but there's been little to no attention paid to it.
They also seem to conflate simply using an encrypted messenger with _alerting
everyone else_ that you're using an encrypted messenger. It's the difference
between an email client that lets you send a GPG encrypted message and a
client that immediately notifies you of every contact with a GPG public key,
regardless of whether you've been in contact with them. I understand it can be
done, I just don't think it should be implemented in the official client
everyone uses. It's pretty shitty because apart from this issue, it's the best
in it's class of secure mobile messenger. Unfortunately it has friends (and
perhaps myself) eager for new entrants for which this isn't an issue.

I use Ricochet (uses Tor hidden services) on Desktop, which doesn't require a
phone number or registration, and is metadata-safe, but the limited feature
set leaves a bit to be desired.

[0]: [https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-
Android/issues/5009](https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-
Android/issues/5009)

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imatworkyo
Desktop client ties in with google chrome. The last place I would consider
anything private on my computer.

Mobile app ties in with my cell phone. ... again meta data I would rather no
one know, or be forced to associated with whatever I communicated on
whisper..kinda defeats the purpose.

Major and inexplicable issues I would love to see discussed.

~~~
oceanofsolaris
The desktop app also works with chromium. But then, you need to have the
mobile app installed to use the desktop app...

Look, I don't think that Signal is that great against targeted attacks. The
fact that you have to install it on a not too trustworthy platform
(android/iOS), that you need to register with a phone number and that it
broadcasts the fact that you use Signal to everyone who knows your phone
number all make it a bit hard to recommend when you need very strong security.

But then, Signal seems to be targeted at the 'average user' and it features
top notch cryptography. It does that in order to thwart mass surveillance. I
think this is an admirable goal and that Signal achieves it. If you think you
might be targeted by a three letter agency, use something different for your
sensitive communications.

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DKnoll
Do you even use it?

Because if you did you would probably know it offers the same on Android and
also does text and picture messaging.

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bgia
How do they make money? I couldn't find this information on their site.

edit: I'm asking because on their hiring page they say they are not venture
backed. I'm just wondering how they are funded.

~~~
andersonmvd
You're not the first to ask. Here's some answers:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/3s1fng/how_does_op...](https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/3s1fng/how_does_open_whispers_make_money/)

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sasas
My experience has been less then ideal with this application (iOS). Often
calls do not establish or the call get dropped within a few minutes. WhatsApp
(voice) on the other hand as not exhibit any of these symptoms when
communicating with the the same parties using the same devices and networks.

Does anyone else experience this? I do wonder if there is an ISP or operator
involved in degrading / blocking the service.

~~~
phyalow
the NSA's infrastructure for the Whatsapp intercept system is probably more
stable and better resourced. /s I hope.

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lquist
I wonder if using this app is a good way to flag to law enforcement that
you're worth investigating :/

~~~
lilbro
Just need to make it the new normal, in Little Brother by Doctorow the main
characters have a similar problem with encrypted traffic 'sticking out', they
push an encrypted music service to change the proportion of encrypted vs
unencrypted traffic.

The analog hole and the fact that phones are already compromised to unknown
degree still an issue though, but still a good step in the right direction.

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Synaesthesia
FaceTime is also encrypted, end-to-end, iMessage too.

~~~
eosrei
Yes, but FaceTime/iMessage is not free/open source nor available for non-Apple
products. EFF gives both 5/7, pretty good considering the other options:
[https://www.eff.org/secure-messaging-scorecard](https://www.eff.org/secure-
messaging-scorecard)

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milkers
NOTHING is free in this world.

~~~
imaginenore
Free lunch is.

