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Cloudron Forum

Apps | Demo | Docs | Install

Best privacy chat apps

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  • ? Offline
    ? Offline
    A Former User
    replied to jdaviescoates on last edited by A Former User
    #73

    @jdaviescoates This is perfect.

    IMO with the Spaces beta Matrix (using Element as the client) is very good in terms of usability. I use it with family and friends now and its been effortless.

    Now we just need Dendrite packaged for a server... unfortunately I know next to nothing about packaging federated apps so I'm hoping someone else will try before I hack something awful together.

    robiR 1 Reply Last reply
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  • robiR Offline
    robiR Offline
    robi
    replied to A Former User on last edited by robi
    #74

    @atridad The example package is there with Matrix server no?

    Life of sky tech

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  • ? Offline
    ? Offline
    A Former User
    replied to robi on last edited by
    #75

    @robi Oh I mean we do have the Matrix Synapse server written in python. The team behind Matrix is working on another server called Dendrite written in go.

    robiR 1 Reply Last reply
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  • robiR Offline
    robiR Offline
    robi
    replied to A Former User on last edited by
    #76

    @atridad right, other than the language difference, the 'federation' packaging should be the same, yes?

    Life of sky tech

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  • JOduMonTJ Offline
    JOduMonTJ Offline
    JOduMonT
    replied to necrevistonnezr on last edited by
    #77
    This post is deleted!
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  • JOduMonTJ Offline
    JOduMonTJ Offline
    JOduMonT
    replied to A Former User on last edited by
    #78

    @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.

    humptydumptyH ianhyzyI L 3 Replies Last reply
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  • humptydumptyH Offline
    humptydumptyH Offline
    humptydumpty
    replied to JOduMonT on last edited by humptydumpty
    #79

    @jodumont I read somewhere that the biggest user group of linux is the US military. I'll try to find a source for you. Open source is seen as a positive, not a negative. The military from other nations also use Linux like China and Turkey...

    https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/10/the-navys-newest-warship-is-powered-by-linux/

    https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-air-forces-secure-linux-distribution/

    https://mil-oss.org/

    https://www.fudzilla.com/news/50016-us-military-loves-linux

    JOduMonTJ 2 Replies Last reply
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  • ianhyzyI Offline
    ianhyzyI Offline
    ianhyzy
    replied to JOduMonT on last edited by ianhyzy
    #80

    @jodumont SIgnal is by far the most secure digital messaging app usable by normal people at this point and this isn't a controversial point among security folks. No matter app what you use, law enforcement can subpoena your phone's cell tower connection records, among other things(at least in the US).

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  • ? Offline
    ? Offline
    A Former User
    wrote on last edited by A Former User
    #81

    Yeah... I'd never be inclined to believe that a chat application is secure unless they are willing to reveal all of the source code. I still use some, like discord for instance simply because I have friends I cannot get off of there. Element with their new Spaces feature has made it usable enough for me to recommend to anyone. Maybe I just don't see the issues because I am used to janky UIs? But I think it is very slick and easy to use at this point. But regardless, I don't want to confuse the conversation about what is easy to use with what someone is used to.

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  • marcusquinnM Offline
    marcusquinnM Offline
    marcusquinn
    wrote on last edited by marcusquinn
    #82

    There's another element to choice of communications apps, and that's the democratic vote that it represents as to whether you endorse a company and its ethics or not.

    Facebook raises it's value from the number of users and interactions, reduce that and you reduce their value to advertisers and shareholding investors.

    Full privacy is almost impossible - but portability and freedom of choice should be encouraged, and even one movement away from a tech giant is a small win against their mindshare domination aspirations the seem to presume in trying to become an essential utility for most.

    We're not here for a long time - but we are here for a good time :)
    Jersey/UK
    Work & Ecommerce Advice: https://brandlight.org
    Personal & Software Tips: https://marcusquinn.com

    M 1 Reply Last reply
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  • M Offline
    M Offline
    martin
    replied to marcusquinn on last edited by
    #83

    @marcusquinn

    Thanks; this caused me to think of Mike Masnik's paper emphasizing endorsement of protocols instead of platforms, might perhaps be relevant / interesting.

    https://knightcolumbia.org/content/protocols-not-platforms-a-technological-approach-to-free-speech

    marcusquinnM 1 Reply Last reply
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  • marcusquinnM Offline
    marcusquinnM Offline
    marcusquinn
    replied to martin on last edited by
    #84

    @martin Yup, also reminds me of the quote to paraphrase; "Bad things happen when good people do nothing."

    We're not here for a long time - but we are here for a good time :)
    Jersey/UK
    Work & Ecommerce Advice: https://brandlight.org
    Personal & Software Tips: https://marcusquinn.com

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  • JOduMonTJ Offline
    JOduMonTJ Offline
    JOduMonT
    replied to humptydumpty on last edited by
    #85

    @humptydumpty said in Best privacy chat apps:

    @jodumont I read somewhere that the biggest user group of linux is the US military. I'll try to find a source for you. Open source is seen as a positive, not a negative. The military from other nations also use Linux like China and Turkey...

    I'm sure your right, and I'm fully for OpenSource and choose OpenSource by Default, simply, sometimes, some irrational thought are hard to destroy 🙂

    @ianhyzy said in Best privacy chat apps:

    @jodumont SIgnal is by far the most secure digital messaging app usable by normal people at this point and this isn't a controversial point among security folks. No matter app what you use, law enforcement can subpoena your phone's cell tower connection records, among other things(at least in the US).

    So Imagine in a country run by a King who decided nobody could say anything bad about him, his family and his government 😉

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  • JOduMonTJ Offline
    JOduMonTJ Offline
    JOduMonT
    replied to humptydumpty on last edited by
    #86

    @humptydumpty said in Best privacy chat apps:

    other nations also use Linux like China and Turkey...

    French Police also use Linux 😉
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software_movement#Legislation_and_government

    1 Reply Last reply
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  • JOduMonTJ Offline
    JOduMonTJ Offline
    JOduMonT
    wrote on last edited by
    #87

    Just randomly found this via GitHub: https://berty.tech
    a privacy-first distributed messaging app.

    jdaviescoatesJ 1 Reply Last reply
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  • jdaviescoatesJ Online
    jdaviescoatesJ Online
    jdaviescoates
    replied to JOduMonT on last edited by
    #88

    @jodumont sounds very promising

    I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

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  • ? Offline
    ? Offline
    A Former User
    wrote on last edited by
    #89

    "Berty is still under active development and should not be used to exchange important data.

    The current Berty Messenger implementation is not using the Berty Protocol yet, but OrbitDB directly. Which means the encryption is not safe, but the good news is that the current Berty Messenger app is already a P2P one!"

    https://berty.tech/docs/berty/

    1 Reply Last reply
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  • marcusquinnM Offline
    marcusquinnM Offline
    marcusquinn
    wrote on last edited by
    #90

    Just stumbled across this, maybe interesting, well reviewed too:

    • https://cointelegraph.com/news/after-launching-dapp-to-rival-whatsapp-blockchain-wants-to-take-on-instagram
    • https://www.jup.io/metis-messenger
    • https://apps.apple.com/us/app/metis/id1564486481

    We're not here for a long time - but we are here for a good time :)
    Jersey/UK
    Work & Ecommerce Advice: https://brandlight.org
    Personal & Software Tips: https://marcusquinn.com

    doodlemania2D 1 Reply Last reply
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  • doodlemania2D Offline
    doodlemania2D Offline
    doodlemania2 App Dev
    replied to marcusquinn on last edited by
    #91

    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.

    marcusquinnM L 2 Replies Last reply
    4
  • marcusquinnM Offline
    marcusquinnM Offline
    marcusquinn
    replied to doodlemania2 on last edited by marcusquinn
    #92

    @doodlemania2 I did give Session a try, kinda felt primitive and like persuading anyone to switch from Signal would be at the expense of losing features for marginal additional privacy.

    get that the metadata with Signal isn't private, and that's annoying, but the main thing for me is avoiding using Facebook/Google products.

    I'm sure Session will continue to evolve, so hopefully they don't lose momentum and have the capability to reach feature parity with the current most popular apps.

    We're not here for a long time - but we are here for a good time :)
    Jersey/UK
    Work & Ecommerce Advice: https://brandlight.org
    Personal & Software Tips: https://marcusquinn.com

    ianhyzyI 1 Reply Last reply
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