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Dessalines 2021-09-16 11:37:49 -04:00
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why_not_signal.md
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@ -9,9 +9,9 @@
* [Enter Signal](#enter-signal) * [Enter Signal](#enter-signal)
* [What's wrong with Signal?](#whats-wrong-with-signal) * [What's wrong with Signal?](#whats-wrong-with-signal)
+ [CIA Funding](#cia-funding) + [CIA Funding](#cia-funding)
- [CIA -> RFA -> OTF -> Signal](#cia---rfa---otf---signal) - [CIA → RFA → OTF → Signal](#cia-%E2%86%92-rfa-%E2%86%92-otf-%E2%86%92-signal)
+ [A Single, Centralized, US-based service](#a-single-centralized-us-based-service) + [A Single, Centralized, US-based service](#a-single-centralized-us-based-service)
- [National Security Letters ( NSLs )](#national-security-letters--nsls-) - [National Security Letters (NSLs)](#national-security-letters-nsls)
+ [Phone # Identifiers](#phone-%23-identifiers) + [Phone # Identifiers](#phone-%23-identifiers)
+ [Social network graphs](#social-network-graphs) + [Social network graphs](#social-network-graphs)
+ [Abandonment of Open source](#abandonment-of-open-source) + [Abandonment of Open source](#abandonment-of-open-source)
@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ About me: While I'm no cryptography expert, I'm a software developer with 10+ ye
## The Problem ## The Problem
After the [global surveillance disclosures of 2013](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_(2013%E2%80%93present)), finding a secure messaging platform to replace text messages became an imperative for all activists. It was found that US, Canadian, UK, Australian, and New Zealand intelligence agencies ( the ["Five Eyes"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes) ), along with US tech giants like Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft, were collecting and forwarding email, text, voice, and video chats to governments, **without any warrant required.** After the [global surveillance disclosures of 2013](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_(2013%E2%80%93present)), finding a secure messaging platform to replace text messages became an imperative for all activists. It was found that US, Canadian, UK, Australian, and New Zealand intelligence agencies (the ["Five Eyes"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes)), along with US tech giants like Facebook, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, were collecting and forwarding email, text, voice, and video chats to governments, **without any warrant required.**
Western governments created a worldwide system of surveillance that *even their own citizens and allies* could seemingly not escape from. Western governments created a worldwide system of surveillance that *even their own citizens and allies* could seemingly not escape from.
@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ As it turns out, the US government was ( and possibly remains ) itself a primary
### CIA Funding ### CIA Funding
#### CIA -> RFA -> OTF -> Signal #### CIA → RFA → OTF → Signal
[While this article by Yasha Levine gets into the details](https://archive.is/Rz6Qa), it is no secret that the original funder of [Open Whisper Systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Whisper_Systems) (the previous name for signal's development team), was the [Open Technology Fund](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Technology_Fund): itself publicly listed as a subsidiary of [Radio Free Asia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Asia), a US state-run organization whose main goal (along with the other "Radio Free" incarnations such as Radio Free Europe, or Free Cuba Radio) is regime change for those Asian governments who don't align with the US's foreign policy interests. [While this article by Yasha Levine gets into the details](https://archive.is/Rz6Qa), it is no secret that the original funder of [Open Whisper Systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Whisper_Systems) (the previous name for signal's development team), was the [Open Technology Fund](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Technology_Fund): itself publicly listed as a subsidiary of [Radio Free Asia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Asia), a US state-run organization whose main goal (along with the other "Radio Free" incarnations such as Radio Free Europe, or Free Cuba Radio) is regime change for those Asian governments who don't align with the US's foreign policy interests.
@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ Signal could very well be another Crypto AG-style [honeypot](https://en.wikipedi
Signal's use luckily never caught on by the general public of China (or the Hong Kong Administrative region), whose government prefers autonomy, rather than letting US tech control its communication platforms, as most of the rest of the world naively allows (For example, India's most popular social media apps, are Facebook and Youtube, meaning that US surveillance giants own and control the data of a country much larger than their own). Signal instead became used by US and western activists, and due to the contradictions of surveillance capitalism, also now its general populace. Signal's use luckily never caught on by the general public of China (or the Hong Kong Administrative region), whose government prefers autonomy, rather than letting US tech control its communication platforms, as most of the rest of the world naively allows (For example, India's most popular social media apps, are Facebook and Youtube, meaning that US surveillance giants own and control the data of a country much larger than their own). Signal instead became used by US and western activists, and due to the contradictions of surveillance capitalism, also now its general populace.
However this is no case of [blowback](https://www.opentech.fund/about/values-principles/), [Marlinspike's confused and useful idiot politics aside](https://lemmygrad.ml/pictrs/image/n9o9bNI6gp.jpg); Signal's other deficiencies mean that there are less impediments to US government surveillance over it than previously thought, and make its claims to being "secure", questionable. However this is no case of [blowback](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowback_(intelligence)), [Marlinspike's confused and useful idiot politics aside](https://lemmygrad.ml/pictrs/image/n9o9bNI6gp.jpg); Signal's other deficiencies mean that there are less impediments to US government surveillance over it than previously thought, and make its claims to being "secure", questionable.
As the above article states, after Yasha Levine wrote an article exposing signal's funding sources, the [RFA tried to do damage control on Signal's behalf,](https://archive.is/Rz6Qa) in the hope that Signal would maintain good relations with its open source supporters, and remain a viable "privacy-oriented" alternative. Libby Liu, president of Radio Free Asia stated: As the above article states, after Yasha Levine wrote an article exposing signal's funding sources, the [RFA tried to do damage control on Signal's behalf,](https://archive.is/Rz6Qa) in the hope that Signal would maintain good relations with its open source supporters, and remain a viable "privacy-oriented" alternative. Libby Liu, president of Radio Free Asia stated: