@lackthereof no, it's not because unlike #Phones and #PhoneNumbers, #eMail is not necessarily traceable by circumstances.

• Because a Phone "Line" (regardless of whether it's POTS, ISDN, VoIP, GSM, VoLTE, …) and #telephony in general are designed for realtime communication, they inherently necessitate an active, ongoing connection.
  • Even if it's just some App/PBX/… to connect to the provider and constantly state "I am on the network and able to recieve calls!" (with PSTN networks, there a physical line that gets assumed to have a phone connected)…

Whereas with eMail (and any #asynchronous #communication) you don't have that requirement.

• So unless the provider is being taken over or otherwise "cooperative" there's no means for a sender to know where, when and how a message was retrieved unless the recipient wants the sender to know of it!
  • Besides, even if you don't have an eMail provider like cock.li which natively supports @torproject / #Tor useage with an #OnionService, unless said provider explicitly prevents you from doing so, you can use not just Tor but also other techniques to make it extremely hard (not necessarily impossible, but at least unfeasible at scale!) to get tracked down.
  • In fact, you could even use #Sneakernet - Style distribution through "#MeatProxies" and #DeadDrops (aka. #dr0p) to further twart tracing attempts.

Or to put it simple:

• You can ring up someone and thus circumstantially verify the chain of #PhoneNumber -> #IMSI -> #ICCID -> #SIM -> #IMEI -> Device -> Location -> Owner quite quickly.
  • Whereas you can't positively verify whether an eMail address and/or #XMPP+#OMEMO account belongs to me unless I want you to know that it does!

So either way a phone number is just a horrible means of doing that.

• And don't even get me started on the fact that legally speaking noone truly owns their number.
  • Because even if you got some spechal case number (like UPT was) you still depend on neither regulators nor telcos to not block or otherwise interfere with it. Which is in contrast to say an OnionService which can only be shutdown effectively by sabotage aka. (more or less figurately) "unplugging" it.

I mean, it's not as if I didn't gave @signalapp a fair chance.

• I wanted #Signal to be good - honestly...
  • But I'm old enough that things rarely are that simple as #TechPopulism & #Propaganda claim it to be.
  • Just like 5th grade #SexEd is not a substitute for Endocrinology, Gynecology and Andrology and actually licensed, medical professionals.

So any #Messenger service that requires a #Phone Number for signup and/or useage is truly not a real replacement and inherently makes PROVEN WRONG assumptions [i.e. that it is legal and possible to obtain a phone number anonymously at someone's juristiction] about it's customers' ability to shield their privacy…

• Cuz all the "#Metadata" claims of Signal are complete #MarketingLies by virtue of them storing a Phone Number and not just being (as per admission by @Mer__edith) 'hard locked-in' with #aws but also subject to #CloudAct.
• They certainly are not deploying real #E2EE cuz you neither get #SelfCustody nor #SelfHosting and have to blindly trust them (aka. "#TrustMeBro!") that what they release as #SourceCode is actually what they deploy.
  • It's like all those "#VPN" shillings which one cannot verify to be true or false!

THIS is why I am going fucking ballistic on #TechPopulism aiming at #TechIlliterates because it's spreading a "false sense of #security" whilst completely disregarding absolute fundamentals when it comes to the underlying systems.

• And I don't mean shit like #Govware of the #SS7 kind, but absolute basics in #ITsec, #InfoSec, #OpSec & #ComSec that every @cryptoparty / @cryptoparty / #CryptoParty worth it's name touches on.
  • Signal can't and won't save peoples' asses and the sooner we realize that "complex problems are hard to fix" the less we waste Resources on #HoneyPots that stench like #CrytpoAG & #ANØM!

@DekOfTheYautja PRECISELY THAT!

• Everyone with two braincells should come to the conclusion that @signalapp / #Signal is.just a successor project to #MINERVA / #Rubikon (aka. #CryptoAG) and #OperationIronside / #OperationTrøjanShield.
  • Because otherwise they would've been already shutdown like #EncroChat and not "let run" like #ANØM…

@benroyce @FQQD I know the details:

@signalapp are criminally incompetent like #EncroChat at best if not a #HoneyPot like #ANØM aka. #OperationIronside aka. #OperationTrøjanShield...

#Signal #Govware #incompetence #PII #PhoneNumbers #ToldYaSo

@kkarhan @GrapheneOS @tails_live @torproject @signalapp

"GrapheneOS chose their requirements and they can happily design their own platform instead."

There's no need to reinvent the wheel. AOSP is a secure, open-source platform that has been around for almost 20 years. I don't want to debate rumors that Google wants to make AOSP proprietary because there is no evidence to support this, especially since it would not benefit them in any way.

"I just think that their stubbornness"

It's not stubborness and I explained why.

"They are the antithesis to #Tails when it comes to #UserFriendly-ness and approachability for #Normies and #TechIlliterates

It's probably the first time I've seen “Tails” and “Normie” in the same sentence, It's not that Tails is difficult to use, but I'm really not sure that many “normies” use it or even know it exists. The user experience on GrapheneOS is almost identical to Pixel OS, the standard operating system for Google Pixel devices, so using GrapheneOS is likely to seem much simpler and familiar to normies, as they will already be used to it.

"Espechally since the problems woth #MobilePhones and the underlying technology ain't fixable with an #AndroidROM

GrapheneOS is not a ROM, Pixel OS is not a ROM, and LineageOS is not a ROM either, theses operating systems are not ROMs.

"Instead we need to foster a #SecurityCulture and proper #ITsec, #InfoSec, #OpSec & #comsec

Indeed, and what GrapheneOS does about security is completely appropriate, including informing people and giving them good advice.

"Otherwise we'll see them fail the same way @signalapp did, which is eitger getting shut down (#EncroChat-style) or being uncovered as a controlled opposition / honeypot (like #ANØM aka. #OperationIronside aka. #OperationTrøjanShield)…"

Signal did not fail, and mentioning Encrochat, ANON, and honeypots in the same sentence is irrelevant. These things have absolutely nothing in common with Signal, you seem to be believing made-up stories.

@Xtreix well, @GrapheneOS chose their requirements and they can happily design their own platform instead.

• I just think that their stubbornness makes them look like Stallmanist extremists to the point of being unbearable cringe and completely loosing the plot.
  • They are the antithesis to #Tails when it comes to #UserFriendly-ness and approachability for #Normies and #TechIlliterates.

To the point that it's cheaper to go black/red and teach that to people, even at the risk of inconvenience.

• I mean, in many juristictions one will have to do so anyway, but that's not tue point here…

I think #GrapheneOS prefer to "die on their hill" of "moral superiority" than fave the reality that 99% of people can't and won't blow $500 - $1000+ on a phone when any half-decent Netbook with @tails_live , @torproject and #4G or #5G modem can do the same.

• Espechally since the problems woth #MobilePhones and the underlying technology ain't fixable with an #Android-ROM.
  • Instead we need to foster a #SecurityCulture and proper #ITsec, #InfoSec, #OpSec & #ComSec.

Otherwise we'll see them fail the same way @signalapp did, which is eitger getting shut down (#EncroChat-style) or being uncovered as a controlled opposition / honeypot (like #ANØM aka. #OperationIronside aka. #OperationTrøjanShield)…

@tranquil_cassowary @halotroop2288 here's a good example:

https://www.criminaldefencelawyers.com.au/blog/possessing-dedicated-encrypted-criminal-communication-devices-laws-and-penalties-in-nsw/

And yes, this can and will be weaponized against any non-#Govware - #backdoored #OS & -Device.

• #Microsoft doesn't even hide the fact that they got a #Backdoor in #BitLocker.
• #Apple certainly is both able and willing to unlock #iOS & #macOS devices as they have all the keys and literally snitched on users in the "P.R." #China.
• #Russia literally sues @delta / #deltaChat for neither collecting user data nor providing them with #backdoors.

In fact, #Australia banning #SecureDevices and -#Encryption came just after their #HoneyPot "#ANØM" aka. #OperationIronside aka. #OperationTrøjanShield had to end and they had to bust the users as #Estonia was unwilling to extend the permission to host the infrastructure on it's soil on behalf if #FBI & #AFP!

@Soeren_loeg the fact that @signalapp not only does "#KYC with extra steps" by mandating a #PhoneNumber to this day as well as being solely under #CloudAct whilst basically being a #centralized, #proprietary, #SingleVendor & #SingleProvider solution makes them the ideal candidate for a longterm #HoneyPot like #ANØM aka. #OperationIronside aka. #OperationTrøjanShield.

• By the sheer size of users, it's a statistical inevitability that they got #Subopena'd and since they don't implement real #E2EE (with #SelfCustody of all the keys!) @Mer__edith would be in jail *if there wasn't a #Govware #backdoor as mandated per telco laws in every juristiction (see "#LawfulInterception!")…

Not to mention #Signal ticks way too many "#sus" boxes…