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1. Embed this notice
   taedryn 🏳️‍⚧️ (taedryn@dice.camp)'s status on Thursday, 12-Jan-2023 06:32:03 JST taedryn 🏳️‍⚧️

   Signal is becoming a liability.

   I started using it because it would do both encrypted and SMS messages, and by using it, I was contributing "low value" traffic (cat pix, "how u" msgs) to a system where I wanted to help protect those doing "high value" communication (political resistance, privacy activists, etc.).

   The fact that it did both SMS and encrypted meant that I was following security best practices by default, without effort. As my friends joined, we talked over secure channels. 1/?

   • Embed this notice
     Børge (forteller@tutoteket.no)'s status on Thursday, 12-Jan-2023 06:31:57 JST Børge

     in reply to

     @taedryn I totally agree! Would you mind tagging Signal in this thread? I'm sure it won't change their mind, but if many people contact them about this, maybe, just maybe..? I don't want to snitchtag, so I'm just asking.

   • Embed this notice
     taedryn 🏳️‍⚧️ (taedryn@dice.camp)'s status on Thursday, 12-Jan-2023 06:31:59 JST taedryn 🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     So, for the layperson, who doesn't care whether their messages are encrypted or not, there's very little incentive to download this extra app and use it in addition to the default insecure SMS app.

     I don't expect this to reach the Signal team's ears, and I don't have a clever solution in mind. They've made their decision and clearly communicated it, and I wish them luck. But over time, I'm probably going to stop using it. It's too much work.

     I lament the loss of this boon to secure comm. 5/5

   • Embed this notice
     taedryn 🏳️‍⚧️ (taedryn@dice.camp)'s status on Thursday, 12-Jan-2023 06:32:00 JST taedryn 🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     But by doing so, they are losing sight of their greater mission, which was originally to provide seamless, easy-to-use encrypted messaging for everyone. To provide a service which was so easy to use that even brand new smartphone users could pick it up as easily as any other SMS client.

     Now, it's still easy to use, but you can only use it to talk to a fraction of your contacts. Now you have to use two different apps to do what appears to be the exact same thing. 4/?

   • Embed this notice
     taedryn 🏳️‍⚧️ (taedryn@dice.camp)'s status on Thursday, 12-Jan-2023 06:32:01 JST taedryn 🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     And what that means is that Signal will (presumably, because I'm probably not alone in my thinking) become a place where only "high value" communications happen. It will become the place where bad actors know that they can aim at any message and know that it will be worth spending the effort to decrypt. That is *terrible* for a system like Signal.

     I understand why they would want to drop SMS. It feels like it's against the mission, it's engineering drain, etc. 3/?

   • Embed this notice
     taedryn 🏳️‍⚧️ (taedryn@dice.camp)'s status on Thursday, 12-Jan-2023 06:32:02 JST taedryn 🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     However, they're dropping SMS support, which means that I will need to open Signal to talk to Signal friends, and some other app to talk to SMS friends. And I've found over the several years I've used it that some of my Signal friends put the app away and ignore it, so my messages to them just never get seen, and we're both unhappy with the outcome.

     Between these two factors, it will soon no longer make sense to use Signal as my daily-driver messaging app. 2/?

   • Embed this notice
     Børge (forteller@tutoteket.no)'s status on Thursday, 12-Jan-2023 09:30:58 JST Børge

     in reply to

     • Signal

     Hey @signalapp, here's yet another reason for you to change your mind. Please read this thread, and listen to your users. We only want what's best for securing people, your core mission. @taedryn