[LINK] Fwd: Signal

Thu Sep 8 23:24:19 AEST 2022

Session?

https://getsession.org/

I haven't tried it yet though.

On 2022/09/8 4:38 pm, Roger Clarke wrote:
> All I want from Signal right now is to be able to run desktop and laptop
> versions as masters, without having to have and link a handheld ...
> 
> 
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> Subject: [LINK] Signal
> Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2022 20:57:37 +0930
> From: Stephen Loosley <stephenloosley at zoho.com>
> To: link <link at mailman.anu.edu.au>
> 
> Encrypted app Signal just hired one of Big Tech’s sharpest critics
> 
> Meredith Whittaker, the former Google manager, is Signal’s first president.
> She is out to convince users to pay for the free app.
> 
> By Nitasha Tiku   September 6, 2022 at 5:00 a.m.
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/06/signal-meredith-whittaker/
> 
> Signal has hired Meredith Whittaker, a former Google manager who has
> been outspoken about the harms of Big Tech, as its first president,
> adding to the roster of tech critics leading the encrypted messaging app.
> 
> In the crowded market for messaging apps, Signal stands apart. It’s
> committed to encryption in an industry built on collecting personal
> data. It’s run by a nonprofit but competes against WhatsApp and
> iMessage, backed by some of the richest companies in the world, Facebook
> parent Meta and Apple.
> 
> As president, Whittaker will help guide strategy, communications and
> policy.
> In an interview, she said she plans to focus on sustaining Signal, which
> hopes to support itself with small donations from millions of users.
> Signal announced her new role Monday at an event in Berlin.
> 
> “It costs tens of millions of dollars per year to develop and maintain
> an app like Signal,” she said.
> 
> The only way to escape technology that makes money off your data is by
> paying for products that don’t, Whittaker says.
> An alternative to data collection only exists if the community of people
> who rely on it “kick in a little bit,” she said.
> 
> Signal is one of the few successful tech products, like the Firefox
> browser, led by vociferous critics of Big Tech.
> The app offers end-to-end encryption on group text, voice and video
> chat, does not collect or store sensitive information, and does not
> store backups of your data on its servers — a viable alternative to the
> relentless data gathering at the center of tech industry critiques.
> 
> Whittaker, who has been a member of Signal’s board since 2020, rose to
> prominence in tech circles for worker activism at Google before she was
> ousted from the company — and for the research center she co-founded to
> raise awareness about the social implications of artificial
> intelligence, called the AI Now Institute.
> Most recently, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan tapped Whittaker
> as a senior adviser on AI.
> 
> Signal was released in 2014 by encryption evangelist Moxie Marlinspike,
> the former head of security for Twitter, and it expanded in 2018 thanks
> to a $50 million interest-free loan from Brian Acton, the WhatsApp
> co-founder who has called out Facebook for privacy violations. Whittaker
> first met Marlinspike when they were both part of an open-source
> software community exploring privacy protecting tech.
> 
> Whittaker’s arrival comes at an inflection point for the company.
> Marlinspike stepped down as CEO in January, after roughly a decade at
> the helm, and Acton took over in an interim capacity. (Signal’s
> three-person board is Marlinspike, Acton and Whittaker.) The company is
> still searching for a new chief. “It’s got to be the right person,” said
> Whittaker. “We have the luxury to take our time.”
> 
> Ask Help Desk: Your private messenger may not be so secure after all
> 
> The app experienced a massive spike in downloads last year during a
> privacy backlash after WhatsApp changed its policy on data collection on
> user interactions with businesses.
> Signal currently has 140.9 million downloads across the App Store and
> Google Play, with India and the United States each having about 16
> percent of its users, according to Sensor Tower, a mobile analytics
> company.
> In comparison, WhatsApp passed 2 billion downloads in 2019, Telegram
> passed 1 billion downloads in 2021, and iMessage comes pre-installed on
> iPhones.
> 
> Whittaker differentiated Signal’s strategy from the fast-growth mantra
> of most Silicon Valley tech companies.
> Signal is not interested in increasing profit or attention on ads, but
> rather creating a network effect of encrypted communication, she said.
> 
> “The more people who use Signal, the more people we can talk to on
> Signal, that’s more people whose communication is private and
> encrypted,” she said. “We do have growth goals, but they are driven by
> our mission, not by a desire for profit.”
> 
> The only way to escape technology that makes money off your data is by
> paying for products that don’t, Whittaker says.
> 
> There has been a greater focus on encrypted messaging in recent years
> because of crackdowns against dissidents around the globe, political
> upheaval and growing awareness of how easily private chats can be shared
> without consent. Signal’s protections stand out from even privacy-minded
> competitors such as WhatsApp and Telegram, experts say.
> Signal has default end-to-end encryption, unlike Telegram, which uses
> cloud backups. WhatsApp, which has backups turned off by default and
> began offering end-to-end encrypted backups last year, shares metadata
> with its parent company, Meta. It also stores information such as
> address book and profile photos, which law enforcement can obtain with a
> subpoena.
> 
> “Providing secure end-to-end encrypted messaging for the world is the
> bedrock of WhatsApp,” said WhatsApp spokesperson Carl Woog. He added
> that WhatsApp does not share user contacts, location or chats with Meta.
> Apple and Telegram did not respond to requests for comment.
> 
> In fact, to provide end-to-end encryption, WhatsApp and many other
> services use the Signal Protocol, an open-source technology developed by
> the same group behind Signal.
> 
> Regardless, few consumers put privacy first, said Jamie MacEwan, senior
> media analyst at Enders Analysis, a firm that analyses new technologies
> and media.
> 
> “About 10 percent of people say they have reported companies to data
> authorities or asked them to delete data. About half of people take
> smaller-scale action like changing their privacy settings,” MacEwan said.
> 
> Signal has cultural clout that is surprising for its size, however.
> The app is popular with techies and journalists, and crossed over to
> White House aides, Black Lives Matters protesters, sports stars, as well
> as members of the Oath Keepers, a right-wing extremist group. It had a
> cameo on the HBO teen drama “Euphoria” in 2019.
> 
> Meta’s encryption plan has human rights benefits, report says
> 
> During her time at Google, Whittaker said, she worked in engineering and
> product leadership at Measurement Lab, an open-source project to gather
> data such as broadband speed.
> She emerged as a tech critic when she helped draft a petition in 2018
> against Project Maven, Google’s contract to help the Pentagon improve
> computer vision for drones, that said Google should not be in the
> business of war. She later became known for helping to organize a
> companywide walkout to protest Google’s mishandling of sexual harassment
> claims.
> 
> Although it may seem removed from Signal’s mission, Whittaker sees a
> through line in her work on challenging the business model behind AI.
> 
> The dominant trend in AI is building large-scale systems that require
> inordinate amounts of data, including personal data on internet users.
> “These are the resources that are concentrated in the hands of the Big
> Tech companies,” Whittaker explained. These AI models are a way to
> “expand the profitability of surveillance data and grow the reach of the
> companies that produce it.”
> 
> Whittaker is bringing more transparency to the costs of operation, such
> as experts in maintaining code for iOS, Android and desktop, and
> registration and hosting.
> Signal offers users an option to make one-time donations or earn
> different badges for monthly donations of $5, $10 or $20 a month, and
> gift a badge to others.
> To ensure that a user’s payment information is not linked with their
> Signal account, Signal uses the same anonymous credential system it
> developed for private groups.
> 
> Telegram, which raised $1.7 billion through a cryptocurrency scheme
> called an initial coin offering, launched a premium subscription in
> June, charging users $5.99 per month for access to exclusive features,
> faster downloads and other perks. WhatsApp at one point charged some
> users 99 cents a year, but dropped that after Facebook bought the app
> for $16 billion.
> 
> Nearly half of Telegram’s Holocaust content contains denial, distortion
> 
> But don’t expect a Wikipedia-esque monthly banner on Signal. “We are
> definitely hoping to get the word out now and we also don’t want to hit
> people over the head with it,” Whittaker said.
> “You get on Signal because you want to answer that group text or you
> want to contact someone, not because you want to read Signal’s text
> about itself.”
> 
> --
> 
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Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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