All the purist here would rather use matrix to send messages to themselves...
Signal is an amazing alternative to WhatsApp and one of the few apps you can actually get non-techies to install. If it's not for you then don't use but don't say stupid shit like "why would anyone use it? it's not perfect!".
Signal is as good as it gets for normies
Actually I was installing signal in my relatives phone to replace the sms app, they used it even without knowing... I understund why they remove the sms part but it was a sad day for me, now noone from my "normies" use it anymore
There is no such thing as "perfect". They will always find something to complain about.
Could you all just stop trying to flee corporate greed jumping from one company to another? We already have XMPP, Matrix and other descentralized solutions.
Oddly enough, once you make that three fiddy payment signal will now potentially have a payment method linked to your account.
If this is true that payment method can essentially be tied to a identity.
I suppose the reason they are choosing to do this is to prevent a influx of bot accounts and spammers/scammers.
And if you are worried about Google's involvement in this, Greyson Parrelli of the Signal team points out that the payment runs through the same zero-knowledge proof setup it uses for donations.
Looks like there is some way of decoupling the payer identity from the signal user
What zero-knowledge god damn? You are submitting your payment details, anything after that is pinky promise.
I figured they must be doing something along those lines, thanks for sharing!
I was about to say, I feel like it's easier to get a burner phone number to sign up with than to find an anonymous way of paying them 3 bucks
it gets worse
The feature currently requires Google Play Services, as payments run through the Play Store, making it such that devices without Play Services cannot access it
I would rather give Signal my phone number than use a smartphone with Google services.
... don't they know that as soon as you use your Google account you're ID? Like doesn't that defeat the whole purpose?
No, they DO know that.
The only way to communicate anonymously across the internet is Tor.
Hmm, I bet there’s a hidden 50 cent surcharge. Damn it, Loch Ness Moster, I ain’t giving’ you no tree fiddy!
Oh God dammit, it's nessy again.
I gave him a dollar to make him go away.
Well, of course he's not gonna go away! You give him a dollar, he's gonna assume you got more!
You mean they want to identify you from your credit card instead of your phone number? Bah.
They claim it's "zero knowledge" proof through Google pay, meaning that Google will know you paid Signal, and Signal knows you paid them, but there is no link between the two that uses your PII payment info to identify the Signal account. I'm inclined to believe them.
Unless you wait a good while to use what you paid for (if that's even possible), then I doubt it'd be hard to connect the dots. Never mind connecting transaction records.
It's the exact same privacy protection as signing up with a phone number.
Google will know you paid Signal
That's not ok either! Just stop playing these games and stop obstructing self hosting. When they come to round up all the Signal users, they won't care what account belongs to who. So there should be no database that identifies the users.
If "they" get to the point of rounding up all Signal users, not using Signal will not prevent you from being rounded up.
From the official announcement
Can I buy an account on a device that has no Play Services?
Not yet. We have plans to add more payment methods, but currently only offer Play Store in-app payments, which requires Play Services.
Ok so given how long it took them to allow an alternative to phone numbers, it will probably be at least 5 years before you can pay using a de-googled phone. I really don't understand what's so hard for them to accept crypto, they already do for donations. Smells like government involvement.
I didn't expect to get cancer from a website called itsfoss.com, but I guess it's time to put an adblocker on my tablet, too.
Adblocker is the minimum requirement for modern web.
Why does a service that no longer does SMS want your phone number?
that is another issue, their reason is that it helps prevent people create unlimited spam accounts I think? It also helps to ease the transition from WhatsApp. It's a compromise I can live with
Yeah why am I donating $10 a month every month for them to come up with shit like this. Google? Really? Now I question what else is going on behind the scenes.
If Signal had zero value to the three letter agencies, they probably wouldn't be allowed to exist. Sucks, but I wouldn't trust them much more than anything else American.
Honestly, for super secret communications, leave your phones at home and meet up irl.
if you’re donating, you should know they have a system to collect payments zero-knowledge (which they’ll also use for the $3)
Funny, cause they accept crypto for donating. Which they don't use for the $3 fee.
Signals reliance on phone numbers is my biggest problem with it. I don’t understand why they can’t move away from them entirely.
You need something to limit spammers using the service to sign up a million accounts
I have this in Threema. Thank you
Why is Signal always doing weird shit?
Hopefully in the future they will offer the ability to pay with Monero.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
