before i continue, i also want to note that the pdf doesn't have any text layer for some reason. this means it's invisible to blind people. i see https://signal-contingency-plan.info/, but that has different text than the pdf. i ran it through pdfsandwich and uploaded it to a third party hosting service: https://drive.proton.me/urls/CSE8QNNPS8#mG2gwPITVJ4S.

i don't see any reason why the pdf authoring tool wouldn't provide the text itself, but whatever.

the zine itself contains a variety of misleading technical jargon (who can i blame for this?), and finally makes some directly invalid claims:

The use of email protocols to send messages means that a government or ISP can't simply block the entire Delta Chat protocol on the network, without blocking all email on that network.

network censorship by nation-state actors is far deeper than blocking a single port. this argument is textbook security through obscurity and is demonstrably false. and in particular, it plays upon the fundamental con of delta chat: if it is "just email", then it has the flaws of email, including plaintext sender/recipient/subject line.

but it's not: see https://delta.chat/en/2024-03-25-crypto-analysis-securejoin#hardening-e-mail-header-protections-and-encryption. i do not doubt its encryption works, but claiming that it is indistinguishable from email is inarguably false:

To protect Subject header Delta Chat and other email clients such as Thunderbird and K-9 Mail replace Subject with “…” or “Encrypted Message”

matching emails with the subject "Encrypted message" is very much within the ability of a nation-state network censor! this is deeply unserious! if people rely on delta chat in the ways described, the worst-case scenario isn't just getting their messages blocked, they can be silently tracked by a global passive adversary. signal is actually strictly better than this as a result of their sealed sender.

delta chat is riding on security through obscurity in order to make false claims, and that's not remotely trustworthy. i cannot overstate how much these kinds of statements damage the credibility of the entire project.

but let's talk about signal now.