Meredith WhittakerAug 15, 2023

OK, real talk.

Telegram makes big proclamations about privacy, but their promises are mostly marketing.

The app collects a huge amount of data. And like all Big Tech, when pressed by governments, they ultimately comply.

This is why Signal goes to great lengths to NOT collect any data about you -- something that is ironically more expensive and more complex.

We do it because it's the only way to ensure we keep our privacy commitments to the people who rely on us.♥️

https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/14/iraq-lifts-ban-on-telegram-after-messaging-app-complies-with-authorities/

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Show threadVissAug 15, 2023
@Mer__edith do you folks have any plans for allowing signal to operate without the need for phone numbers, or for folks to be able to run more than one account from a mobile device?
Show threadMeredith WhittakerAug 15, 2023
@Viss We're working on usernames which will allow people to connect and communicate without sharing phone numbers. You will still need a phone number to register, but you can choose to expose it to no one if you want.
Show threadBill Woodcock
@Mer__edith @Viss

Why not just move to a country with actual privacy laws, where you don't have to collect people's phone numbers?
Aug 16, 2023 at 8:49amWeb
Show threadMeredith WhittakerAug 16, 2023

@woody @Viss

The privacy laws aren't the issue. The need for contact discovery and spam prevention are. And these are not easy problems or trivial for a meaningfully useful high-availability messaging client able to provide an alternative to surveillant competitors. We are working on usernames, however. And we go out of our way to NOT connect phone number (which could be a random VOIP number for all we care) to any other identifying info.