this post was submitted on 13 May 2024
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Privacy
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I don't get it at all. There are plenty of platforms like matrix, xmpp, simplex that don't require phone numbers tied to your identity. Signal has somehow managed to convince people that it's a private platform, despite it being a US hosted service that requires phone numbers.
Say the US government, in a worst-case scenario in which it constantly monitors all traffic that goes through Signal’s data centers, can ‘only' see phone numbers, IP addresses and timestamps, right? Or am I forgetting something here?
Metadata and social graphs are more important than message content, esp since not many people have the time to read through individual messages to build meaning.
Signal stores phone numbers (meaning your identity, and home address), and message timestamps: who texted who and when, and who's in chats with who else. More than enough to build social graphs and connections, and also figure out where people are through their IP addresses.
Do you happen to know what metadata matrix stores? I assume matrix.org specifically stores email and username, right
Yes, but I don't think user metadata outside of your apub url, name, icon, display name, leaves your homeserver. Email or passwords don't leave iirc.