#Telegram and #Durov are once again in the media, so I translated my May piece about the service to English:
Telegram is neither "secure" nor "encrypted"
https://rys.io/en/171.html
Calling Telegram "secure" or "encrypted" is misleading, and is journalistic malpractice.
Telegram itself seems to mislead about it on purpose.
Telegram's encryption protocol is suspicious and transmits cleartext device identifiers with every message.
They have been called out for it many times, and refuse to change.
Telegram is neither "secure" nor "encrypted"
This piece has been written for and originally published by OKO.press.When attributing, please attribute to: “Michał ‘rysiek’ Woźniak, Fundacja Ośrodek Kontroli Obywatelskiej „OKO”", and include a linSongs on the Security of Networks
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FediThing 🏳️🌈
Unknown parent • • •Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
Unknown parent • • •🌸🇪🇺 Dreamy Mia 🏳️⚧️🌸
in reply to Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦 • • •The only really secure messenger is Matrix, but it is quite unusable.
The best client i have found is FluffyChat which is at least on par with WhatsApp all considered.
Sadly Telegram has by far the best UI, UX and Dev UX there is of all messengers, which is why i like to use it, also it is fast as heck.
Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
in reply to 🌸🇪🇺 Dreamy Mia 🏳️⚧️🌸 • • •@m you might want to double check on Matrix though:
https://soatok.blog/2024/08/14/security-issues-in-matrixs-olm-library/
Matrix is a decent IRC replacement, but a secure messenger it is not. I've always felt that encryption was bolted-on as an afterthought in it and that that will lead to tears, and as time goes by I get more and more proof of this.
Security Issues in Matrix’s Olm Library - Dhole Moments
Dhole MomentsFediThing 🏳️🌈
in reply to Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦 • • •What do you think about XMPP with OMEMO?
Would be nice to have a decentralised alternative to Signal.
Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
in reply to FediThing 🏳️🌈 • • •@FediThing @m I don't have strong opinions on it other than when I tried XMPP the usability was always an issue.
I know there are projects like Snikket that made great strides on this front though.
🌸🇪🇺 Dreamy Mia 🏳️⚧️🌸
in reply to FediThing 🏳️🌈 • • •@FediThing
I _love_ XMPP, I've run a long time a ejabberd server and it was really my favorite until now.
Especially this stuff is _fast_ and the extension system is just technically awesome.
_but_ no one uses it (ik ik WhatsApp but lets be real here, this is not XMPP as in "i use XMPP for IM")
and sadly the extension system makes it so complicated that no one has a real idea what is going on, has problems with writing others and is excessively complicated for wide adaption.
FediThing 🏳️🌈
in reply to 🌸🇪🇺 Dreamy Mia 🏳️⚧️🌸 • • •So, if XMPP had more people using it, and it was easier to sign up, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with it?
🌸🇪🇺 Dreamy Mia 🏳️⚧️🌸
in reply to FediThing 🏳️🌈 • • •@FediThing
From a technical standpoint this is correct, if ppl would use the right Extensions as a collective minimum, but this will just not be the case until ejabberd etc. that these Extensions are the minimum and that they will not communicated with anything that has less.
And there is still the problems with clients, which would need to become really good for sticker (packs), voice messages, gifs, many images and videos and good search.
The XMPP clients i used back then where really fast and i liked them a lot to write with 3 friends and a bunch of bots but i think today, since facebook messanger, telegram and snapchat this is just no option anymore for it to be widely adapted.
FediThing 🏳️🌈
in reply to 🌸🇪🇺 Dreamy Mia 🏳️⚧️🌸 • • •@m
I've been playing around with Snikket as a potential way to get more people trying XMPP. Have you any views on it?
For what it's worth, the default Snikket app has OMEMO on by default, voice/video calls and voice messages, plus image/document/location attachments, but it doesn't have stickers or GIF pickers.
Orca 🌻 | 🎀 | 🪁 | 🏴🏳️⚧️
in reply to FediThing 🏳️🌈 • • •https://soatok.blog/2024/08/04/against-xmppomemo/🤔
Against XMPP+OMEMO - Dhole Moments
Dhole MomentsFediThing 🏳️🌈
in reply to Orca 🌻 | 🎀 | 🪁 | 🏴🏳️⚧️ • • •Yeah, I saw that, but it didn't say what happens if a centralised service like Signal sells out. The owner of Signal is the guy who sold Whatsapp to Facebook, so this is a totally plausible scenario.
The whole point of decentralisation is that if a server turns to crap you can switch to another server without losing your contacts. There's no way to do this on Signal, you're just stuck there even if the service removes its privacy protections.
jenkinse
in reply to FediThing 🏳️🌈 • • •@FediThing @m @xarvos
Besides Matrix, another decentralized alternative to Signal with no phone number required is Delta Chat (as mentioned by others here like @kkarhan and @andrewg). It won't support all of the same features (but it does support some features which Matrix doesn't provide, like disappearing messages) and it should be easy to sync messages between devices. Downstream Delta Lab supports Telegram stickers.
Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
in reply to FediThing 🏳️🌈 • • •Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
Unknown parent • • •FediThing 🏳️🌈
in reply to Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦 • • •On Sky News UK today:
“Vladmir Putin took steps to shut down Telegram when it first appeared in Russia...”
“But in 2018 the Kremlin suddenly ended its pursuit of Telegram, where it is now one of Russia's most popular social media apps - even with the Russian military. A leading Russian pro-war blogger joked after Durov's arrest: "De-facto they detained the head of communications for the Russian Army".”
“A rival encrypted messaging app Signal, whose servers, unlike many of Telegram's are not hosted in Russia, was recently banned there.”
🤔
https://news.sky.com/story/pavel-durovs-arrest-much-like-the-telegram-app-works-to-russias-advantage-13203881
Pavel Durov's arrest, much like the Telegram app, works to Russia's advantage
Tom Clarke (Sky News)Rihards Olups
in reply to Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦 • • •...with Durov supposedly being almost on the run from russia itself.
Do the French have more on him?
Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
in reply to FediThing 🏳️🌈 • • •Regs Grundies
in reply to FediThing 🏳️🌈 • • •