Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
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How I Got a Truly Anonymous Signal Account (theintercept.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

44 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Yes, you can use Signal without sharing your personal phone number. Here’s how I did it.

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (12 children)

tl;dr the sms verification falls back to voice and they just used a payphone.

I guess if you count the airport full of cameras they went to to do this as "anonymous", then sure :)

Also this article from 2017 suggests not using this method:

It’s important to maintain control of this phone number. For example, you could use a disposable SMS service to register with Signal — there are many such services if you search for them — but those phone numbers can be used by anyone. Similarly, you should avoid using a public payphone’s number, or a SIM card on which you do not intend to renew service. If someone else can receive SMS messages or phone calls to this phone number, they can take your Signal account away from you.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

”It’s important to maintain control of this phone number."

I strongly feel that this is false.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Care to elaborate?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

~~If someone trys to register with an existing number then it wont work if its already being used.~~
Im not sure on this^
Better to enable a security pin if you are concerned.
The traditional phone system involvement is annoying.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Got a source for that? There have already been multiple contradicting sources posted saying this isn't true.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I cant find any information that discusses the security risk. But it would seem that this transfering all content to the owner of the phone number is a standard feature.
So, maybe its not discussed because it doesn't frequently happen.
It doesnt seem like a trustworthy way to ensure users' content remains secure.
Update:
https://old.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/8r7tbc/someone_impersonating_me_using_my_old_number_what/
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007062012-Change-Number
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007062452-What-do-I-do-if-my-phone-is-lost-or-stolen
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059752-Backup-and-Restore-Messages

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