Friend asked me about Signal, triggered by the ever growing concerns about US big tech.
They're not technical and I said I'd look into it for them.
I've never used it and upon install it asked for
1. Permissions to see my "contacts"
2. A phone number.
What? Why?
Can Signal be used without these?
That's a real shame.
In the era of ICE and rising state authoritarianism I wonder if that is becoming a more urgent issue?
Even if the signal organisation can forever be trusted not to abuse the phone number, it doesn't mean that information can't be taken from them, by the state for example.
@rzeta0 @christianp Now it’s possible to not share your phone number to add people on Signal, e.g. share a username.
Requiring a phone number is an outstanding issue since years, with no solution on the horizon.
It’s still better than Meta.
Thanks. The ability to use a username is a good thing.
Tariq
Christian Lawson-Perfect
Syntax