Random Joe, or should I say… GNU/Joe

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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: November 28th, 2021

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  • Between 2013 and 2016, Open Whisper Systems received grants from the Shuttleworth Foundation,[49] the Knight Foundation,[50] and the Open Technology Fund.[51]”

    “Marlinspike launched Open Whisper Systems’ website in January 2013.[2][1]”

    (from the page you linked)

    How is that not the OTF (100% funded by Radio Free Asia) since its inception? how is it not its initial conception phase?



  • yet it’s fair to say that:

    • Signal was incepted by US gov funds
    • During most of it’s initial conception phase it was US gov funded
    • therefore some of the characteristics its users still suffer today (like reliance on strong selectors, pinky-promise of non-retaining metadata, centralized architecture based on the same “cloud” as the one of the CIA and other decisions hostile to free/libre software users and ethics) originate from that era.


  • also now that i think of it:

    1. there is now a discovery mechanism of some sort… but otherwise it’s a feature and not a bug that you can only identify people whom you had an initial exchange with. much preferable than something that Signal that without asking (and without opting out?) will by default access all your contacts and match them through the use of a strong selector (phone number) also:
    2. i think with the minimal knowledge the server has of its users (and the no-identity concept) this really limits risk. Also it means that for the most tight of security models, one can use their own server (which is not feasible with most other chat protocols)

    so all in all: go simplex! :)







  • PInephone! A bit of work, requiring to not being shy opening the hood of a linux system. but totally worth it, the reward is freedom and its continuous cycle of collective learning…

    (although the Pinephone is not really a “smartphone” in the sense most people use that word: a restricted computer that allows to run wallgarden applications… a pinephone doesnt natively run “smartphone apps” and is more like a full-blown, general purpose computer running GNU/linux that also contains a modem enabling calls, sms and data…)