SMH @ activists using techno-fascist platforms for communications during an operation subject to state-actor level interference. I thought we recognised and acknowledged this problem 15-20 years ago already.
https://xcancel.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1965431513320927706
I use WhatsApp cautiously with friends who still refuse to jump over to Signal (let alone Matrix or Session). But it’s def mind blowing to read an activist group was relying on it for organizing. Reminds me of FB being used for organizing G20 and BLM demos -_-
Considering their entire marketing campaign is “nobody, not even WhatsApp can see your messages,” I can see how folks would fall for that.
But they can see the metadata!
I think a lot of non-techie people only know signal from the Trump admin using it illegally earlier in the year. In a lot of people’s minds because of that they think Signal = insecure because they don’t get the nuances of why using it in that specific context – on personal phones, using a third party app, with a random journalist in the mix – was bad, but that for most people it’s still one of the best options. WhatsApp on the other hand has a lot of marketing around it and if you didn’t know that Meta is Facebook I think some people wouldn’t even realise who the owners are.
I had a friend who heard signal was backdoored and that a regular old cell call was more secure. Had to correct that
wasn’t it telegram that got hacked?
also i vaguely remember the signal ceo getting sued or something because they couldn’t/wouldn’t let some government body read someone’s messages, because it’s encrypted