Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Richard Stallman (rms@mastodon.xyz)'s status on Sunday, 22-Dec-2024 14:06:18 JST Richard Stallman

   [1/3] https://community.signalusers.org/t/how-deep-is-googles-ecosystem-embedded-in-signal/
   https://gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html
   https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

   The Signal client's own code is free/libre, but it farms out some activities to Google services. Depending on what Signal uses each of those services to do, using it might be SaaSS, which is as subjugating to the user as locally running a nonfree program. I don't use Signal, because it is almost

   • Embed this notice
     Richard Stallman (rms@mastodon.xyz)'s status on Sunday, 22-Dec-2024 14:06:23 JST Richard Stallman

     in reply to

     [2/3] impossible to make a Signal account without having a cellular phone, so I can't. Since I can't use Signal, I don't try to learn anything else about it. I know almost as little about the specific Google services named in the article - I don't have a Google account, and most of its services require the user to run nonfree client software. As a result, I don't know whether it is possible to get some real use out of Signal without using the Google services listed in the article, or

   • Embed this notice
     Richard Stallman (rms@mastodon.xyz)'s status on Sunday, 22-Dec-2024 14:06:25 JST Richard Stallman

     in reply to

     [3/3] whether the job each one does constitutes SaaSS. I can correct two errors made in comments in that page: (1) free software is a matter of freedom, not price and (2) Android is contains nonfree components, and has contained them since almost the beginning.

   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Sunday, 22-Dec-2024 16:13:54 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • .: jdkiser :.
     @jdkiser @rms >GPLv3-only
     That's the only red flag you need to know really - imagine intentionally setting up your project into a dead end by not putting the GPLv3-or-later header into each nontrivial file or assigning a proxy, or at least putting an unambiguous statement in the readme.
     
     Session-desktop is hot Electron garbage - Electron is known for freedom issues and also bogging any computer down and annihilating battery life - I do not run Electron software and nobody should either.
   • Embed this notice
     .: jdkiser :. (jdkiser@social.sdf.org)'s status on Sunday, 22-Dec-2024 16:13:55 JST .: jdkiser :.

     in reply to

     @rms try Session messenger. This is an independently maintained derivative of Signal from a fork back in 2019. No Google Play services necessary, no phone number required.