this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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ive had this discussion with a few different people actually, and at least from where im standing, it does seem like sms is making a comeback. i have to admit i prefer it when it comes to messaging people i know irl
Currently SMS is an insecure system, hence the value of using an encrypted messaging protocol.
So yeah SMS as it currently stands is not a great default way to be having private conversations.
ideally id be using signal but hardly anyone is willing to use it because most people don't care. between sms & something owned by meta, for example, im not entirely sure which is less bad
Even if someone got into my messages, I wouldn't be hurt by it. Not like I'm trying to overthrow a government or do crime or anything. They might see my butthole. Good for them, I say. More people should be looking at my butthole.
Do you guys also get super paranoid about being recorded when out in public? "We can't talk here! They have eyes and ears everywhere!" Just what are you talking about where you need everything to be encrypted? 🤨
Nothing specifically. It’s just none of anyone’s business. Privacy is a human right and not something for criminals only.
I agree with that last part; but why would someone be trying to get my text messages in the first place? There's nothing there. I'm not holding any secrets of value to anyone for any reason. So there's no reason for me to have crazy levels of security.
TL;DR: You're better off leaving behind a thinner data trail than not.
This is a valid argument, but then again the same could be said of much of any other data collection done by big tech companies.
The value isn't so much as in individual pieces of data or even in an individual person's data but rather the aggregation of many individuals' data in order to make maybe a pointed marketing campaign, sell such data to shady advertisers and scammers, or stuff it into some AI model.
I would think in specific situations, the data of an individual person may matter. Like when the government asks a tech company for data whether with good or bad intentions. But that one seems to happen less often as far as I'm aware.
Overall, you can think of it as risk management. It's hard to know all the situations in which the data you leave behind would be relevant. But one thing we can know is that for some reason, these huge corporations are spending billions of dollars a year in order to collect it, and lots of it. If it wasn't a viable strategy, they probably would've stopped a while ago.
It doesn’t matter if you think a thing holds no value or not. You might be doing something that is currently legal and socially accepted, that on a whim could turn into the worst crime ever. Why would you give Facebook or whoever information that you did it? Why do they need to know? E2EE is obviously something that is doing its job in keeping people free from surveillance or otherwise governments wouldn’t try to ban it.
TL;DR: You are better off keeping as much as possible to yourself in general.
Edit: typos
You have nothing to hide, right?