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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A question about secure chats (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

104 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Two questions.

My family insist on using Whatsapp for the family chats. I have to keep a copy on a device just so I can communicate with them. I do so under protest, as I was always told it isn't secure. My brother has just said

"oh Whatsapp is encrypted, it's perfectly secure".

First, is it actually as encrypted and safe as my brother claims? That would solve everything.

Second, if it isn't, where can I get some proof that we should switch to Telegram or whatever? Proof which doesn't make me look like a raving loony?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

My way around the issue with the app and its collection is :

Install in a separate profile with empty everything. (So they get an empty contact list)
Install beeper in a different profil and connect WhatsApp to beeper.
Remove all permissions from WhatsApp. There if I need to reconnect sometime.

Oh and using fake number is also a good idea. And yes not as good as selfhosting I know. Signal is an option if you can get them to switch. Telegram is crap.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

so now Beeper has got all of your Whatsapp messages going through their servers, unencrypted.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

https://www.beeper.com/faq#how-does-beeper-connect-to-encrypted-chat-networks-like-imessage-signal-whatsapp

So yea a bit of trust put in beeper. Matrix bridge and self host is as I said better.

This is easy. For services that's not so good to start with , like SMS , WhatsApp etc.

For sensitive stuff i use signal with a fake number. Or other channels.