Under the slogan ‘Think of the children’, the European Commission tried to introduce total surveillance of all EU citizens. When the scandal was revealed, it turned out that American tech companies and security services had been involved in the bill, generally known as ‘Chat Control’ – and that the whole thing had been directed by completely different interests. Now comes the next attempt. New battering rams have been brought out with the ‘Going Dark’ initiative. But the ambition is the same: to install state spyware on every European cell phone and computers.
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623 sats \ 2 replies \ @kepford 21 May
Over the past few months I've been seeing a ramping up of FUD around Signal. Don't misunderstand me. I still have concerns about Signal's governance model. I was very concerned when the founder stepped down and Meredith Whittaker took the reins. I do not share the politics of some of those on the board that have been under scrutiny lately. I think the scrutiny is warranted and we need to remain vigilant.
All that said, I also have very high suspensions about the likes of Tucker Carlson claiming Signal is compromised. Having the Telegram founder on and FUDing the most widely used secure messaging app in the world. My tin foil hat theory is that there is an effort to get people off of Signal because it is becoming to widely used. I say this because it aligns with the general effort to back door encryption. I see many "conservative" influencers pushing Telegram which doesn't have the privacy defaults or guarantees of Signal.
Something is up. That's all I'm saying
Regarding Meredith Whittaker and the board members. Encryption is important for activists around the world and in the US. Lets not forget that many on the left have massive fears about the right taking over and instituting restrictive laws around morality. The intelligent left wing people will realize that in order to preserve their liberties they need encryption.
My point is privacy and encryption are not a solely political thing. I've watch Whittaker do an excellent job defending the right to secure comms against many scumbags on TV. Regardless of her politics it is foolish to believe we that hate the state are alone in our desire for privacy. It is equally foolish to believe Republicans and conservatives are on board with privacy. These are the same people that support George W. Bush's massive expansion of surveillance.
We need to use our heads. Pay attention to what people say but more importantly what they do. Do your own research. Do not take my word for it. For sure don't take Tucker Carlson's word for it. There is a war on privacy and many sheep in wolves clothing. Don't make enemies of allies. Its just dumb.
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35 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 21 May
I'll add this. This is fitting into a classic pattern of taking something that isn't really about left/right and making it about that. This happens over and over and influencers and politicians do this to gain attention and support. I think that might be happening here. That's the best case. Worst case is both sides are working together to discourage people from even trying to use secure messaging tools.
Way to many people in bitcoin and SN are delusional. It is very hard to get my friends and family to use anything other than surveillance tech. Signal is by far the tool I've had the most success with. I love all the tools. There are tools better than Signal in some ways but they make compromises that make them harder to adopt. Some are just new and buggy. Some don't have the features people want. It is not helpful for us to slam an effective tool like Signal and pretend we actually have options that non-technical people will use. I'm in favor of using these newer tools. They need users. We should be supporting by using all of these tools that protect privacy. Don't throw rocks and the good tools.
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14 sats \ 0 replies \ @rizzling 21 May
Unfortunately, I don't have the time to answer more detailed right now, but in various countries the investigative authorities (investigators and agents) often use Signal to communicate with undercover informants. especially in the secret service area. telegram is almost never used. There are various ways to evaluate this, but I suspect that Signal cooperates with some institutions
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44 sats \ 0 replies \ @03c43494a9 21 May
For people who's company blocks mullvad.net: https://web.archive.org/web/20240521165949/mullvad.net/en/why-privacy-matters/going-dark
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24 sats \ 0 replies \ @0xIlmari 21 May
Stop using computers that you can't fully control. I ditched Windows years ago and as soon as budget permits will buy a Pixel and migrate to GrapheneOS.
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14 sats \ 0 replies \ @Coinsreporter 22 May
These are war times and we have to fight one to save our privacy and freedom.
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14 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinAbhi 21 May
This war is eating up! And I believe until it doesn't rise upto a measure where it affects everyone, we are not going anywhere with it. When it does, all will revolt against it and it will be a period of restoration then.
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19 sats \ 0 replies \ @tonsobuns 21 May
I did not have Ashton Kutcher as the villain of the story on my bingo card.
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8 sats \ 4 replies \ @nullama 21 May
The latest ban on lightning wallets in the US is a bit worrying, maybe it is a preview.
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @kepford 21 May
What ban on lightning wallets? Don't start spreading nonsense.
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10 sats \ 2 replies \ @nullama 21 May
Maybe ban is not the right word, but they left the US market:
https://protos.com/phoenix-wallet-to-be-removed-from-us-app-store-after-samourai-crackdown/
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @rewolf 3 Jun
Phoenix panic-exited the US after the Samourai arrest. We don't have any details about reasons for this. It looks like a knee-jerk reaction but they might have their own reasons.
Samourai wasn't just a wallet - their coinjoin service allowed mixing of UTXOs to improve privacy and the owners almost bragged, in tweets, about how criminals could be using their services. Still what was done to them is an infringement on freedom of speech rights, regardless of how unwise they were.
Point is. There is no outright ban. But we did see WoS leave last year too, so it's definitely getting harder to use freedom money and not be controlled and tracked in our every move. As expected though.
We will persevere and find new ways!
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 21 May
Yeah, ban isn't the right word. Companies do not want to risk being put in cage by the US crime organization or they just don't believe it is worth the risk. I get it. It is shameful what the US state has done.
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7 sats \ 1 reply \ @madisonsandoval 21 May
Need a TLDR for that article.
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62 sats \ 0 replies \ @Chronicsats 21 May
TL;DR: The EU's "Chat Control" initiative, presented as a measure to prevent child sexual abuse, actually aims to install state spyware on all EU citizens' phones and computers, allowing for total surveillance and mass data collection, despite violating human rights and privacy laws.
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2 sats \ 0 replies \ @Satosora 21 May
They did that in china already, right?
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