this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2025
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Greetings!

A friend of mine wants to be more secure and private in light of recent events in the USA.

They originally told me they were going to use telegram, in which I explained how Telegram is considered compromised, and Signal is far more secure to use.

But they want more detailed explanations then what I provided verbally. Please help me explain things better to them! โœจ

I am going to forward this thread to them, so they can see all your responses! And if you can, please cite!

Thank you! โœจ

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[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 22 hours ago

We can't verify that. They have a vested interest in lying, and occasionally are barred from disclosing government requests. However, using this as evidence, as I suggested in my previous comment, we can use it to make informed guesses as to what data they can share. They can't share the content of the message or calls -- This is believable and assumed. But they don't mention anything surrounding the message, such as whom they sent it to (and it is them who receives and sends the messages), when, how big it was, etc. They say they don't have access to your contact book -- This is also very likely true. But that isn't the same as not being able to provide a social graph, since they know everyone you've spoken to, even if they don't know what you've saved about those people on your device. They also don't mention anything about the connection they might collect that isn't directly relevant to providing the service, like device info.

Think about the feasibility of interacting with feds in the manner they imply. No extra communication to explain that they can't provide info they don't have? Even though they feel the need to communicate that to their customers. Of course this isn't the extent of the communication, or they'd be in jail. But they're comfortable spinning narratives. Consider their whole business is dependant on how they react to these requests. Do you think it's likely their communication of how they handled it is half-truths?