Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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The Best Encrypted Messengers in 2024 (blog.thenewoil.org)

submitted 1 month ago by BrikoX to c/[email protected]

129 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I am a firm believer that there are many privacy techniques you should focus on before encrypted messaging because they will offer you much more “bang for your buck,” things like good passwords, two-factor authentication, and even encrypted email. That said, I still believe that encrypted messaging is a critical part of a well-rounded privacy and security strategy. While the vast majority of our day-to-day conversations may be benign, it can still offer a lot of insight into who we are as people – our routines, likes, and personal thoughts. This information – mundane or not – is worth protecting.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Matrix doesn’t offer disappearing messages (which I consider important for digital minimalism and cybersecurity.

I noticed this in the article and figured I'd throw my 2 cents in. This might be a spicy take, but I actually can't stand apps that do this.

When I was in school I had someone harass me online with threats of violence (they spent a couple of hours insulting and threatening me) then lie to the staff that I was harassing them with even more extreme shit. The staff and other students all took their side until I logged in and showed the conversation. If the messages had disappeared I wouldn't have been able to prove my innocence.

I very firmly want encrypted communications for privacy (I use Signal and Matrix), but I am quite wary of purging communications automatically. That said, it's anyone's right to use services that auto delete and my right not to.

I'm curious what other people's take on this would be.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

For disappearing messages to work, your conversation partner has to promise they won't take photos of their screen, and they have to promise to use an app that actually implements the feature instead of just pretending to, and the app developers have to promise to have implemented the code to delete a message when the service says it should

Is there actually a cryptographically-sound and physically-complete method for ensuring that a message is only legible for a temporary duration once it leaves your own device and is delivered to someone elses?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Nope, it is impossible to have messages deleted after a specific time. There is simply no way to do it.

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