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    Best privacy chat apps

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    • marcusquinn
      marcusquinn last edited by marcusquinn

      I think any app requiring a central server will remain niche.

      Signal took a long time to persuade people to switch with very low signup friction.

      User experience is as fundamental to security as shoes are on gravel.

      If the experience doesnโ€™t factor-in user onboarding time & friction, then it becomes a security issue in itself, by discouraging critical-mass adoption to be more useful than the ad-tech alternatives.

      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

      atridad 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • atridad
        atridad App Dev @marcusquinn last edited by atridad

        @marcusquinn said in Best privacy chat apps:

        I think any app requiring a central server will remain niche.

        Did you mean apps not requiring a central server? Looking at the current abysmal state of the internet, apps requiring central servers dominate.

        Signal took a long time to persuade people to switch with very low signup friction.

        User experience is as fundamental to security as shoes are on gravel.

        If the experience doesnโ€™t factor in user onboard IG time and friction, the it becomes a security issue in discouraging critical mass adoption to be more useful than the ad-tech alternatives.

        I think this is a good ol' agree to disagree situation. I'm of the opinion that if someone needs to be coerced into caring about security they may as well stick with selling their soul to Sundar Pichai and Zucc. As far as I'm concerned the best privacy chat app is the one that best protects privacy. Simple as that.

        I type things and sometimes those things end up in your browser. ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

        marcusquinn 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
        • marcusquinn
          marcusquinn @atridad last edited by

          @atrilahiji The family reeeeeeallly resisted the push to Signal for months, these are people that care, and I care about, but the "why should I?" brainwashing runs deeper than personal and relationships nowadays.

          That's the power of user experience and trust in exchanging effort for that.

          For business and professionals, sure, we have some influence, but for personal, I'm afraid the user statistics speak for themselves.

          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

          atridad 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • marcusquinn
            marcusquinn @atridad last edited by marcusquinn

            @atrilahiji Moral hypothetical; mental health is an issue, I think we can agree on that?

            How do we reconcile having capabilities to improve user experience and adoption, against having people we care about unnecessarily unhealthy in mind because they "sold their soul", or more likely it was bought and sold for them?

            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

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • atridad
              atridad App Dev @marcusquinn last edited by

              @marcusquinn I mean yeah, for a number of people the security aspect is something of a non-issue. What moves them is the UX. But I'd argue that most, if not all, open-source chat apps that allow for self hosting simply cannot compete with Signal because people move to the shiny thing. You and I know that there are better options if privacy is the concern, but for the majority of people privacy truly is not a concern. If it was, we wouldn't even be having this discussion and everyone would use Matrix.

              But where I'm coming from here is solving the core issue of the best privacy chat app, which I still argue is Matrix. I would not say it is the best chat app. But again its a matter of what one prioritizes.

              I type things and sometimes those things end up in your browser. ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

              R marcusquinn 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • R
                Robin @atridad last edited by

                @atrilahiji Well, you also don't really need to compete with Signal if you can use it as a trojan horse using e.g. https://docs.mau.fi/bridges/python/signal/index.html. Of course, this comes with its own set of challenges: making a good experience with many moving parts is not easy - and bridges are inevitably another moving part, often of questionable quality since they aren't a primary focus.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • marcusquinn
                  marcusquinn @atridad last edited by

                  @atrilahiji Yeah, it's a compromise step I feel. Secure enough to be better than ad-tech's conflicts of interest, but still aware that the metadata for who's chatting with whom and when still has some potential value that one wouldn't want to share if given an assured choice.

                  Matrix I love the ideals and successes of. Element seems the best of the bunch. So for this audience, certainly the best we have.

                  For my entire social circle, well I can't see it happening but would be happy to see otherwise.

                  I guess the original point of the post was non-Cloudron specific, and potential for mass-market.

                  I guess we have to wait and see what Elon Musk shills next ๐Ÿ˜‚ if Signal's MOB payments sour the new kid capturing mindshare.

                  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

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • A
                    atupuxi last edited by

                    The Very Best Encrypted Messaging Apps:-

                    1. Signal
                    2. Wickr Me
                    3. Dust
                    4. WhatsApp
                    5. Telegram
                    6. Apple iMessage
                    7. Facebook Messenger

                    App to avoid: Google Hangouts. Despite being available for free on both iOS and Android, Google Hangouts is riddled with privacy and security concerns. Though it does encrypt hangout conversations, it doesnโ€™t use end-to-end encryption โ€” instead, messages are encrypted โ€œin transitโ€.

                    atridad necrevistonnezr 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • atridad
                      atridad App Dev @atupuxi last edited by

                      @atupuxi Good to see Signal on there but WhatsApp and FB Messenger are suspect. I'd probably put something like Matrix (Element) on there. Probably even above Signal since you can't quite self host Signal.

                      I type things and sometimes those things end up in your browser. ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                      • necrevistonnezr
                        necrevistonnezr @atupuxi last edited by

                        @atupuxi said in Best privacy chat apps:

                        The Very Best Encrypted Messaging Apps:-

                        1. Signal
                        2. Wickr Me
                        3. Dust
                        4. WhatsApp
                        5. Telegram
                        6. Apple iMessage
                        7. Facebook Messenger

                        Wickr was just acquired by Amazon (!) of all companies: https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/25/22550361/amazon-wickr-aws-secure-messaging-encryption

                        atridad JOduMonT 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 4
                        • atridad
                          atridad App Dev @necrevistonnezr last edited by atridad

                          @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?

                          I type things and sometimes those things end up in your browser. ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

                          jdaviescoates JOduMonT 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 3
                          • jdaviescoates
                            jdaviescoates @atridad last edited by

                            @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?

                            Or in other words, just refer to the great infographic I posted earlier.

                            I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

                            atridad 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • atridad
                              atridad App Dev @jdaviescoates last edited by atridad

                              @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.

                              I type things and sometimes those things end up in your browser. ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

                              robi 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • robi
                                robi @atridad last edited by robi

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

                                Life of Gratitude.
                                Life of Advanced Technology

                                atridad 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • atridad
                                  atridad App Dev @robi last edited by

                                  @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.

                                  I type things and sometimes those things end up in your browser. ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

                                  robi 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • robi
                                    robi @atridad last edited by

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

                                    Life of Gratitude.
                                    Life of Advanced Technology

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • JOduMonT
                                      JOduMonT @necrevistonnezr last edited by

                                      This post is deleted!
                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • JOduMonT
                                        JOduMonT @atridad last edited by

                                        @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.

                                        humptydumpty ianhyzy 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • humptydumpty
                                          humptydumpty @JOduMonT last edited by humptydumpty

                                          @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

                                          JOduMonT 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                          • ianhyzy
                                            ianhyzy @JOduMonT last edited by ianhyzy

                                            @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).

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                            • atridad
                                              atridad App Dev last edited by atridad

                                              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.

                                              I type things and sometimes those things end up in your browser. ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

                                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                              • marcusquinn
                                                marcusquinn last edited by marcusquinn

                                                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 Reply Quote 2
                                                • M
                                                  martin @marcusquinn last edited by

                                                  @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

                                                  marcusquinn 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 5
                                                  • marcusquinn
                                                    marcusquinn @martin last edited by

                                                    @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

                                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                                    • JOduMonT
                                                      JOduMonT @humptydumpty last edited by

                                                      @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 ๐Ÿ™‚

                                                      @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 ๐Ÿ˜‰

                                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                      • JOduMonT
                                                        JOduMonT @humptydumpty last edited by

                                                        @humptydumpty said in Best privacy chat apps:

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

                                                        French Police also use Linux ๐Ÿ˜‰
                                                        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software_movement#Legislation_and_government

                                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                                        • JOduMonT
                                                          JOduMonT last edited by

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

                                                          jdaviescoates 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                                          • jdaviescoates
                                                            jdaviescoates @JOduMonT last edited by

                                                            @jodumont sounds very promising

                                                            I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

                                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                                            • ?
                                                              A Former User last edited by

                                                              "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 Reply Quote 3
                                                              • marcusquinn
                                                                marcusquinn last edited by

                                                                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

                                                                doodlemania2 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                • doodlemania2
                                                                  doodlemania2 App Dev @marcusquinn last edited by

                                                                  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.

                                                                  marcusquinn 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                                                                  • marcusquinn
                                                                    marcusquinn @doodlemania2 last edited by marcusquinn

                                                                    @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

                                                                    ianhyzy 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                                                    • ianhyzy
                                                                      ianhyzy @marcusquinn last edited by

                                                                      @marcusquinn yeah, a lot of alternatives to signal look neat but fail at being cross platform or easy for normal people to use

                                                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                                                      • atridad
                                                                        atridad App Dev last edited by

                                                                        I've had to ditch Signal. It has been a nightmare to use. Notifications on Android and iOS are both spotty. My mom had missed calls several times because it just never rung for her (I verified this). Also for video calls it occasionally decides speakerphone is not needed, and won't work.

                                                                        0/10 somehow Element + Matrix is more usable.

                                                                        I type things and sometimes those things end up in your browser. ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

                                                                        robi 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                                                        • robi
                                                                          robi @atridad last edited by

                                                                          The frequent disconnections from Telegram and Signal are problematic.

                                                                          It's like someone is deliberately disconnecting all sessions they can't intercept. Making it a lot less reliable.

                                                                          Sometimes video calls are better, and you can always stop video sharing, keeping the voice channel open.

                                                                          Same with GVoice calls, frequent drops, despite good networking on both sides.

                                                                          One of the better things for longer lasting voice comms is Team Speak. But the lack of availability of free clients on mobile puts that in the 'only at home' category.

                                                                          Life of Gratitude.
                                                                          Life of Advanced Technology

                                                                          rmdes 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                          • rmdes
                                                                            rmdes @robi last edited by

                                                                            I'v been testing https://cwtch.im/ it's quite interesting, since you can host the server home
                                                                            and join other chats/servers or one-to-one over tor

                                                                            marcusquinn robi 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                                                            • marcusquinn
                                                                              marcusquinn @rmdes last edited by

                                                                              @rmdes Nice! Looks like the list here has been updated since I last posted it:

                                                                              • https://www.privacytools.io/#messaging

                                                                              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

                                                                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                                                              • robi
                                                                                robi @rmdes last edited by

                                                                                @rmdes sounds like a good app request?

                                                                                Life of Gratitude.
                                                                                Life of Advanced Technology

                                                                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                • L
                                                                                  LoudLemur @marcusquinn last edited by

                                                                                  @marcusquinn

                                                                                  Session
                                                                                  https://getsession.org
                                                                                  Session will soon support video over Lokinet.

                                                                                  Berty
                                                                                  https://berty.tech/
                                                                                  Berty is based on IPFS (Inter Planetary File System), and near release. Keep an eye on it.

                                                                                  Cwtch
                                                                                  https://cwtch.im/

                                                                                  marcusquinn 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                                                                  • marcusquinn
                                                                                    marcusquinn @LoudLemur last edited by

                                                                                    @LoudLemur Thanks. Session I like, worth a follow: twitter.com/session_app Anyone can DM me for an ID to connect if you want to test anything.

                                                                                    Video calls will be the game-changer for that, at least if they can have a comparable quality to FaceTime/Zoom, which are currently the best-of-(non-open-source)-breed in my experience.

                                                                                    Berty & Cwtch I need to try, both also sounds very cool.

                                                                                    The original point of this post being "Off-topic", was for non self-hosted, or not being dependent on self-hosting. The kinda thing you could give your folks to use and they'd have a low friction experience, and it would work well enough for them to also like and recommend to friends once they were also onboard. (something I still even struggle to convince people that really ought to trust me on, because lazyness & what's the point inertia is a very real thing targeted by the spyware that has become ubiquitous with "social media" and "big tech".

                                                                                    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

                                                                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                                                                    • marcusquinn
                                                                                      marcusquinn last edited by

                                                                                      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™‚

                                                                                      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

                                                                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                                                                      • marcusquinn
                                                                                        marcusquinn last edited by marcusquinn

                                                                                        Anyone tried this "Status" app to the above aims? Looks intriguing at least:

                                                                                        • https://status.im/
                                                                                        • https://status.im/get/
                                                                                        • https://cryptonews.com/coins/status/
                                                                                        • https://apps.apple.com/us/app/status-private-communication/id1178893006
                                                                                        • https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=im.status.ethereum

                                                                                        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

                                                                                        jdaviescoates 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                        • jdaviescoates
                                                                                          jdaviescoates @marcusquinn last edited by

                                                                                          @marcusquinn while there are few good interesting ideas floating around in the web 3 space, and loads of money sloshing around to help experiment with such ideas, personally I find it mostly to be a big turn off for being a slow, expensive, and environmental nightmare. ๐Ÿ™‚

                                                                                          I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

                                                                                          marcusquinn 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                          • atridad
                                                                                            atridad App Dev last edited by

                                                                                            Oh gosh they incorporate โ€œweb3โ€ ๐Ÿ˜ž

                                                                                            I type things and sometimes those things end up in your browser. ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

                                                                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                                                                            • marcusquinn
                                                                                              marcusquinn @jdaviescoates last edited by

                                                                                              @jdaviescoates Wait until you see how much energy humans consume to do the things the miners are replacing ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

                                                                                              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

                                                                                              jdaviescoates 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                              • jdaviescoates
                                                                                                jdaviescoates @marcusquinn last edited by

                                                                                                @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.

                                                                                                I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

                                                                                                marcusquinn L 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                                                                                • marcusquinn
                                                                                                  marcusquinn @jdaviescoates last edited by

                                                                                                  @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.

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                                                                                                  • jdaviescoates
                                                                                                    jdaviescoates @marcusquinn last edited by

                                                                                                    @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

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                                                                                                    • marcusquinn
                                                                                                      marcusquinn @jdaviescoates last edited by

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

                                                                                                      Bankers.

                                                                                                      We're not here for a long time - but we are here for a good time :)
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                                                                                                      • jdaviescoates
                                                                                                        jdaviescoates @marcusquinn last edited by 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!

                                                                                                        I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

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                                                                                                        • marcusquinn
                                                                                                          marcusquinn @jdaviescoates last edited by

                                                                                                          @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.

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                                                                                                          • necrevistonnezr
                                                                                                            necrevistonnezr @marcusquinn last edited by

                                                                                                            @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?

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                                                                                                            • atridad
                                                                                                              atridad App Dev last edited by

                                                                                                              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.

                                                                                                              I type things and sometimes those things end up in your browser. ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

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                                                                                                              • marcusquinn
                                                                                                                marcusquinn @necrevistonnezr last edited by

                                                                                                                @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


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                                                                                                                • L
                                                                                                                  LoudLemur @jdaviescoates last edited by

                                                                                                                  @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.

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                                                                                                                  • marcusquinn
                                                                                                                    marcusquinn @LoudLemur last edited by 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.

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                                                                                                                    • jdaviescoates
                                                                                                                      jdaviescoates @marcusquinn last edited by

                                                                                                                      @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˜‰

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