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Best privacy chat apps

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  • marcusquinnM marcusquinn

    @jdaviescoates Think that's one for the rest of the internet to debate. Personally, I see the incentives for more progress in energy production, efficiency, distribution and security as a good thing.

    jdaviescoatesJ Offline
    jdaviescoatesJ Offline
    jdaviescoates
    wrote on last edited by
    #108

    @marcusquinn said in Best privacy chat apps:

    I see the incentives for more progress in energy production, efficiency, distribution and security as a good thing.

    OK, but Web 3 does that how?

    It's really not very distributed at all and pretty much the whole ecosystem relies on a tiny handful of privately owned and controled entities, just like Web 2

    See eg this nice critique by Signal's creator:

    https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html

    Also, what are these high energy "things the miners are replacing"?

    I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

    marcusquinnM 1 Reply Last reply
    2
    • jdaviescoatesJ jdaviescoates

      @marcusquinn said in Best privacy chat apps:

      I see the incentives for more progress in energy production, efficiency, distribution and security as a good thing.

      OK, but Web 3 does that how?

      It's really not very distributed at all and pretty much the whole ecosystem relies on a tiny handful of privately owned and controled entities, just like Web 2

      See eg this nice critique by Signal's creator:

      https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html

      Also, what are these high energy "things the miners are replacing"?

      marcusquinnM Offline
      marcusquinnM Offline
      marcusquinn
      wrote on last edited by
      #109

      Also, what are these high energy "things the miners are replacing"?

      Bankers.

      Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
      Development https://brandlight.org
      Life https://marcusquinn.com

      jdaviescoatesJ 1 Reply Last reply
      1
      • marcusquinnM marcusquinn

        Also, what are these high energy "things the miners are replacing"?

        Bankers.

        jdaviescoatesJ Offline
        jdaviescoatesJ Offline
        jdaviescoates
        wrote on last edited by jdaviescoates
        #110

        @marcusquinn said in Best privacy chat apps:

        Bankers

        Yeah. Thankfully, whilst most banks are still investing in climate catastrophe, not all are.

        I do personal banking with Nationwide and business banking with Starling, neither of which invest in any fossil fuel companies nor projects.

        https://bank.green is a useful website for checking how much your bank has invested in fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement.

        The worst offender in UK/ Europe are Barclay's

        See also:

        The Banking on Climate Chaos report:
        https://www.ran.org/publications/banking-on-climate-chaos-2022/

        Recent issue of Ethical Consumer magazine on banking:
        https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/sites/default/files/flipbook/Issue186/

        I'd suggest moving money to more ethical banks (and pensions if you have one, see eg https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/ ) is a far more effective action than using all the insanely wasteful web3 stuff ๐Ÿ™‚

        Probably also worth mentioning:
        https://www.ethex.org.uk/
        https://www.abundanceinvestment.com/
        https://www.wearemoneymovers.com/

        Happy ethical banking everyone!

        I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

        marcusquinnM 1 Reply Last reply
        2
        • jdaviescoatesJ jdaviescoates

          @marcusquinn said in Best privacy chat apps:

          Bankers

          Yeah. Thankfully, whilst most banks are still investing in climate catastrophe, not all are.

          I do personal banking with Nationwide and business banking with Starling, neither of which invest in any fossil fuel companies nor projects.

          https://bank.green is a useful website for checking how much your bank has invested in fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement.

          The worst offender in UK/ Europe are Barclay's

          See also:

          The Banking on Climate Chaos report:
          https://www.ran.org/publications/banking-on-climate-chaos-2022/

          Recent issue of Ethical Consumer magazine on banking:
          https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/sites/default/files/flipbook/Issue186/

          I'd suggest moving money to more ethical banks (and pensions if you have one, see eg https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/ ) is a far more effective action than using all the insanely wasteful web3 stuff ๐Ÿ™‚

          Probably also worth mentioning:
          https://www.ethex.org.uk/
          https://www.abundanceinvestment.com/
          https://www.wearemoneymovers.com/

          Happy ethical banking everyone!

          marcusquinnM Offline
          marcusquinnM Offline
          marcusquinn
          wrote on last edited by
          #111

          @jdaviescoates This we agree on.

          I wouldn't worry about the "energy costs" of PoW blockchains, a large amount of the excess heat can be reclaimed and re-used, and it is motivating and diverting more funds to renewable energy investment, because ultimately, cleaner energy is also cheaper energy for all.

          Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
          Development https://brandlight.org
          Life https://marcusquinn.com

          necrevistonnezrN 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • marcusquinnM marcusquinn

            @jdaviescoates This we agree on.

            I wouldn't worry about the "energy costs" of PoW blockchains, a large amount of the excess heat can be reclaimed and re-used, and it is motivating and diverting more funds to renewable energy investment, because ultimately, cleaner energy is also cheaper energy for all.

            necrevistonnezrN Offline
            necrevistonnezrN Offline
            necrevistonnezr
            wrote on last edited by
            #112

            @marcusquinn I highly doubt that the average miner running 100 AMD cards re-uses any of the excessive heat.

            Itโ€˜s just a stupid system under which numbers are crunched that donโ€™t need crunching and which gave rise to money laundering and cybercrime at an unprecedented level. Thereโ€™s not one ransomware attack without cryptocurrency involved.

            I donโ€™t know why less oversight in finance matters would benefit anyone. And is there one aspect of cryptocurrency that has benefited society as a whole?

            marcusquinnM 1 Reply Last reply
            1
            • ? Offline
              ? Offline
              A Former User
              wrote on last edited by
              #113

              This is off topic...

              But I will say that crypto tends to be defended by those who make abnormal amounts of money off of it. Also miners can have a special corner of hell for the GPU shortage. Web3 is not needed. Its just a way to ram "bLoCkChAiN" into everything. Decentralization does not and will never need blockchain. Source: activitypub.

              1 Reply Last reply
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              • necrevistonnezrN necrevistonnezr

                @marcusquinn I highly doubt that the average miner running 100 AMD cards re-uses any of the excessive heat.

                Itโ€˜s just a stupid system under which numbers are crunched that donโ€™t need crunching and which gave rise to money laundering and cybercrime at an unprecedented level. Thereโ€™s not one ransomware attack without cryptocurrency involved.

                I donโ€™t know why less oversight in finance matters would benefit anyone. And is there one aspect of cryptocurrency that has benefited society as a whole?

                marcusquinnM Offline
                marcusquinnM Offline
                marcusquinn
                wrote on last edited by
                #114

                @necrevistonnezr I heated my whole house with GPU mining this winter, so self-proclaiming my own confirmation-bias.

                I like learning, and I like primary source information. I could have taken any bunch of opinions, regurgitated them and moved on, but I just like to know โ€” and I'm satisfied that I can make my home-heating consistently profitable to fund other hosting and research projects.

                I guess a significant part of the developing world, that now has an alternative currency to trade with, might be voting with their usage, and good for them.

                If there were no utility, I'm sure the costs in chips & power would not be funded indefinitely, get here we are, 10-years in and mining, trading, and all sorts of other applications both exist and grow.

                Like most things, none of us truly knows the future, and in many ways how the present works either, but I do like the idea that self-determination can survive and thrive in the face of accelerating AI capabilities โ€” for which, soon enough, these public words are merely food for their modelling, and the utility of anything online will only be as good as the trust of either the few or the many that control the network we've taken for granted as being secure enough to rely on.

                Maybe we're just being tricked into generating the computing power that an artificial hive-mind craves, who knows?


                a9aa466b-03ea-4ac3-a2a2-a82af4de3675-image.png

                The Sun, 1991


                cdd24e6e-34ba-40ee-b3c4-14b2340e5166-image.png

                Daily Mail, December 5, 2000


                Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
                Development https://brandlight.org
                Life https://marcusquinn.com

                1 Reply Last reply
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                • jdaviescoatesJ jdaviescoates

                  @marcusquinn like what? What are they/ have they replaced. Nothing as far as I'm aware.

                  A single Bitcoin transaction uses more energy than an average U.S. household uses in 2 months!

                  I mean, perhaps you're referring to how much banks still invest in fossil fuels? But if you think web3 is going to replace banks any time soon you are wrong ๐Ÿ™‚

                  A 10-year old iPhone could process more transactions per second than the entirety of the Bitcoin network it's so insanely slow.

                  L Offline
                  L Offline
                  LoudLemur
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #115

                  @jdaviescoates said in Best privacy chat apps:

                  @marcusquinn like what? What are they/ have they replaced. Nothing as far as I'm aware.

                  A single Bitcoin transaction uses more energy than an average U.S. household uses in 2 months!

                  I mean, perhaps you're referring to how much banks still invest in fossil fuels? But if you think web3 is going to replace banks any time soon you are wrong ๐Ÿ™‚

                  A 10-year old iPhone could process more transactions per second than the entirety of the Bitcoin network it's so insanely slow.

                  Wow! That is amazing. I had no idea.

                  marcusquinnM 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • L LoudLemur

                    @jdaviescoates said in Best privacy chat apps:

                    @marcusquinn like what? What are they/ have they replaced. Nothing as far as I'm aware.

                    A single Bitcoin transaction uses more energy than an average U.S. household uses in 2 months!

                    I mean, perhaps you're referring to how much banks still invest in fossil fuels? But if you think web3 is going to replace banks any time soon you are wrong ๐Ÿ™‚

                    A 10-year old iPhone could process more transactions per second than the entirety of the Bitcoin network it's so insanely slow.

                    Wow! That is amazing. I had no idea.

                    marcusquinnM Offline
                    marcusquinnM Offline
                    marcusquinn
                    wrote on last edited by marcusquinn
                    #116

                    @LoudLemur That's the wonder of statistics. Rarely are they every questioned, and you can always find one that supports your argument.

                    f801a7fa-33b0-4a50-ba88-e55861c50570-image.png

                    I'm not saying anything is true, if you found it online, there seems to be an increasing chance it is biased. I'm just saying, there's a fact for every occasion now, and the quoting of them usually tells you more about the hopes, belief or fears of the quoter, than they do about the subject matter.

                    Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
                    Development https://brandlight.org
                    Life https://marcusquinn.com

                    jdaviescoatesJ 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • marcusquinnM marcusquinn

                      @LoudLemur That's the wonder of statistics. Rarely are they every questioned, and you can always find one that supports your argument.

                      f801a7fa-33b0-4a50-ba88-e55861c50570-image.png

                      I'm not saying anything is true, if you found it online, there seems to be an increasing chance it is biased. I'm just saying, there's a fact for every occasion now, and the quoting of them usually tells you more about the hopes, belief or fears of the quoter, than they do about the subject matter.

                      jdaviescoatesJ Offline
                      jdaviescoatesJ Offline
                      jdaviescoates
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #117

                      @marcusquinn whilst you have a valid point about stats, that's a very silly graph.

                      The banking system is many many MANY orders of magnitude larger than the whole web 3 ecosystem, let alone bitcoin.

                      It's not even comparing apples to pears, it comparing a grain of sand to a whole beach.

                      Now do same figures per transaction ๐Ÿ˜‰

                      I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      2
                      • B Offline
                        B Offline
                        byghuutran
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #118

                        Someone has purpose to make money from Signal or open source chat app like this?

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • marcusquinnM Offline
                          marcusquinnM Offline
                          marcusquinn
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #119

                          Just gonna leave this here ๐Ÿ™‚

                          https://twitter.com/marcuswquinn/status/1678017825800089602

                          8c840cc8-9a91-4b7f-82ff-6a230c4761e9-image.png

                          0bfa5087-92c1-4ec2-a138-c6c8657a399d-image.png

                          Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
                          Development https://brandlight.org
                          Life https://marcusquinn.com

                          1 Reply Last reply
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                          • doodlemania2D doodlemania2

                            yall should also check out Session (getsession.org) it's pretty sweet - a fork of Signal protocol with the backend using the Loki/Oxen network and in the table above, requires zero of the 19 permissions that Signal requires. I personally REALLY enjoy it.

                            The downsides are obvious here in the usability department. In order to get to chatting with someone, you HAVE to exchange keys. Signal makes that easier cause they generate QR codes but also integrate with your contacts.

                            One thing to note, however, as a plus to Signal, is they use confidential computing on Azure to hide all the contacts processing, which is a really great use of that particular tech.

                            L Offline
                            L Offline
                            LoudLemur
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #120

                            @doodlemania2 said in Best privacy chat apps:

                            yall should also check out Session (getsession.org) it's pretty sweet - a fork of Signal protocol with the backend using the Loki/Oxen network and in the table above, requires zero of the 19 permissions that Signal requires. I personally REALLY enjoy it.

                            The downsides are obvious here in the usability department. In order to get to chatting with someone, you HAVE to exchange keys. Signal makes that easier cause they generate QR codes but also integrate with your contacts.

                            One thing to note, however, as a plus to Signal, is they use confidential computing on Azure to hide all the contacts processing, which is a really great use of that particular tech.

                            Session is great. The developers are nice people and do regular, video updates on progress. The Session team is also involved in development of Lokinet, which is like a low-latency, more secure TOR. You can run services on Lokinet, for example, this imageboard supports it:

                            https://forum.cloudron.io/topic/9591/jschan-on-cloudron-imageboard-for-our-times

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            1
                            • marcusquinnM marcusquinn

                              Have created a "Cloudron" Group in Session, for both testing, and off-the-record chat (well, as much as all other members have a record). DM me for my Session ID. It's probably safe to post publicly, but no hurry to find out otherwise from haste ๐Ÿ™‚

                              L Offline
                              L Offline
                              LoudLemur
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #121

                              @marcusquinn said in Best privacy chat apps:

                              Have created a "Cloudron" Group in Session, for both testing, and off-the-record chat (well, as much as all other members have a record). DM me for my Session ID. It's probably safe to post publicly, but no hurry to find out otherwise from haste ๐Ÿ™‚

                              There are some lists published of Session Groups. You could mention it and have it listed there.

                              https://session.directory/
                              https://lokilocker.com/Mods/Session-Groups/wiki/?action=_pages

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              1
                              • JOduMonTJ JOduMonT

                                @atridad said in Best privacy chat apps:

                                @necrevistonnezr IMO I'd remove anything that is owned by big tech OR is closed source from that list. How can we ever ensure a closed source application is secure?

                                Personally, I don't like Signal, for it is just another WhatsApp were you could be tracked by GPS/Beacon and meta-data. I saw too much anti-government group using Signal and being intercepted simply by correlating the high level of exchange in Signal (metadata) and movement tracking (GPS).

                                For the fact, saying Close Source is not secure by default, it is simply a point of view. Few companies with whom I work do business with the military and don't want to use anything Open Source because for them Open Source sound full of flaws and weaken their defence.

                                L Offline
                                L Offline
                                LoudLemur
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #122

                                @JOduMonT said in Best privacy chat apps:

                                Few companies with whom I work do business with the military and don't want to use anything Open Source because for them Open Source sound full of flaws and weaken their defence.

                                few vs a few

                                few < a few

                                A few girls have blonde hair or blue eyes or a beautiful smile.
                                Few girls have all of these. They are unicorns.

                                I saw him at the party. A few girls were with him. He must be quite popular.
                                Few girls like his friend though. For some reason, he lacks charisma.

                                It is similar with little vs a little

                                He had little to drink, so he should be OK driving.
                                I had a little, so he can give me a ride.

                                I like little spice in my food, so I will have the ordinary mashed potatoes.
                                You can have the Bombay potatoes, which have a little chile.

                                1 Reply Last reply
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                                • RazielKanosR Offline
                                  RazielKanosR Offline
                                  RazielKanos
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #123

                                  I am a bit late to the party, but a messenger I love to use is Threema Libre. Using the Web client / Desktop is a bit a hickup since you have to log in every day, but I really like the security aspect.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • marcusquinnM Offline
                                    marcusquinnM Offline
                                    marcusquinn
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #124

                                    Handy spreadsheet comparing features:

                                    • https://privacyspreadsheet.com/messaging-apps

                                    Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
                                    Development https://brandlight.org
                                    Life https://marcusquinn.com

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                                    • timconsidineT Offline
                                      timconsidineT Offline
                                      timconsidine
                                      App Dev
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #125

                                      Interesting : the only app from that analysis with 100% green (or N/A) is Simplex (https://simplex.chat/)

                                      KubernetesK 1 Reply Last reply
                                      1
                                      • timconsidineT timconsidine

                                        Interesting : the only app from that analysis with 100% green (or N/A) is Simplex (https://simplex.chat/)

                                        KubernetesK Offline
                                        KubernetesK Offline
                                        Kubernetes
                                        App Dev
                                        wrote on last edited by Kubernetes
                                        #126

                                        @timconsidine I did try to use SimpleX with a friend. I use iOS, friend use Android. I tried to like SimpleX, but it was not such a good experience. Very battery consuming and many App crashes on both(!) devices.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • jdaviescoatesJ Offline
                                          jdaviescoatesJ Offline
                                          jdaviescoates
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #127

                                          For me Signal still provides the best balance of stability/ usability/ privacy (although to be honest I've not tried most of the apps listed in that spreadsheet as Signal is Good Enough for me and I've got various functioning groups on there that include not very technical people)

                                          I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

                                          marcusquinnM 1 Reply Last reply
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