Hi :) I know that Telegram is not save and not a good messenger if you are a privacy-geek. Sadly some parts of my family still think so. I brougth up the arguments, that they are cooperating with Russia, that they or closed-source on the server-side and that e2ee is not on by default and only available for 1-on-1 chats.
My question now is, if you gals and guys might have some other arguments or sources I could use.
I don’t want to convince anyone to switch away from Telegram (because I am no missionary :D) I just want people to understand the risks of using Telegram.
WIRE or Signal. Granted, convincing your people to move with you is like trying to get an act of Congress in play.
people download apps for all kinds of bullshit.
but messaging? nah…They download apps for all kinds of bullshit because all their friends and people they follow are on there. They won’t install a messaging app if none of the people they interact with are there. It’s not specific to messaging. I was able to convince my immediate family to move to Signal just for our family group chats. It’s not much but it’s a start.
Telegram is the best social network. Not so much a private messenger.
As for risks… http://kremlingram.org/ has the Russian ties well-documented, even if theystretch the evidence at times, the latest border cross leaks are proofs enough
Can we be real for a minute though?
It’s still better than not having it as an option.
By telegram existing, it diversifies the non private messaging landscape. It’s obviously not better than actually secure and/or private services, but the more options that are out there, the less centralization there is, which is a net positive.
You just have to be aware of its limitations and don’t use it for anything significant. In that regard it’s no worse than something like discord.
You already covered the warnings about not trusting it for privacy or security, so that’s really the beat you can do in informing people. Once you’ve done your due diligence for the people you care about, you gotta let them do what they’re gonna do. It’s either that or go hard and refuse to communicate on anything other than the services you deem best for your preferences and hope for the best
There are Ukrainian and Russian ties… AFAIK it’s used heavily on both sides of the conflict. The founder had some commentary as to why the stance they’ve taken is the stance they’ve taken.
His mother is also from Ukraine herself:
… and Pavel is a French / UAE citizen (as additionally demonstrated by the French government holding him for questioning). The “Telegram is a Russian puppet” arguments are fairly weak.
How about: Signal is better? Though, they recently were caught with some unencrypted shit on the desktop client.
The messages in the desktop client aren’t encrypted. However, someone would need access to your machine to get them
Sauce? I tried searching and couldn’t find anything (at least not on the first page of results). Thanks.
i think they mean that signal on desktop does not encrypt their content at rest, which is acknowledged and not an issue they are intending on addressing.
But it seems to have recently changed? I’m learning thus as I wanted to find a source.
Source: https://candid.technology/signal-encryption-key-flaw-desktop-app-fixed/
Basically, anyone who can read your home directory could decrypt your Signal database. That’s about typical of traditional desktop applications, but questionable for security-oriented software. Mac OS and (sometimes) Linux have more robust credential management options, and Signal signaled (yes, pun intended) its intent to adopt them.
I feel that if someone can read your home directory, signal isn’t your worst worry. However, it’s still an issue and I’m glad they’re going to move to better security.
