EngineerGaming

EngineerGaming , 9 days ago

Effectively not encrypted, requires a smartphone, can be anal about bans, etc.

EngineerGaming , 9 days ago

To be fair, pretty much all major XMPP clients have adopted OMEMO encryption, so doesn't seem like much of an issue.

EngineerGaming , 9 days ago

Signal is annoying to use if you don't have a smartphone you can trust, since they do not allow registration from desktop. So either an Android VM or Signal-cli. But maybe it was just a one-off bug that the desktop client didn't bind to signal-cli for me. Still, the fact that you need an unofficial command-line application just to register makes it not exactly user-friendly.

EngineerGaming , 9 days ago

I am suspicious of it because you pretty much cannot host a node. Well, you can - but you'd have to deposit an INSANE amount of money (like $2k or something). While Simplex, even though I do have a concern with its initial centralization by the power of default, is decidedly easy to selfhost.

EngineerGaming , 9 days ago

Did you have trouble setting up XFTP one? SMP was fine but XFTP seemed to have some error in the systemd settings provided in the manual.

EngineerGaming , 8 days ago

Yea, but a typical cellphone is not as easy to make private as a typical laptop or desktop. Lineage has some tradeoffs and not accessible on all devices, and Graphene needs even more specific, quite expensive hardware!

EngineerGaming , 8 days ago

I meant telemetry to Google and/or manufacturer. With grandma, I can at least install Linux on her laptop and say to message me there (that's pretty much what I did with mom).

EngineerGaming , 19 days ago

giving you zero options to prove your identity

Ironic because Discord CAN ask for your phone number or even ID.

EngineerGaming , 1 month ago

I don't like physical copies. For convenience, I would be ripping it anyway, and then what? CDs and DVDs take up way too much space, then I would have to eiher throw a perfectly working disk away (which just feels bad) or bother selling it (which is not even guaranteed). I understand it if you're into the collecting aspect, but I am personally not. If I was really set on paying for the media, I would rather go for a DRMless purchase. Or if it is not available, do it like with my Steam games - buy a DRMed copy and then pirate a DRMless one corresponding to it.

EngineerGaming , 1 month ago

Session is also sus because you effectively cannot host a node, last I have seen. They claim it is "against a Sybil attack" but all it does is making sure only people wih large disposable funds can have nodes, and the effect might be the exact opposite.

Simplex is more interesting in this regard because while I am concerned with initial centralization (the default servers), they made hosting your own easy. But I personally stick woth imperfect yet trusty XMPP.

EngineerGaming , 1 month ago

Last I have seen, it still requires a number to register - it just doesn't have to be public.

What gets me the most is the requirement of a smartphone to register. No way I am trusting my non-public chats to a phone, so that means either Waydroid/VM (which creates issues with copypasting) or signal-cli (which is fairly inconvenient).

EngineerGaming , 1 month ago

Wasn't Amazon involved here as well? It is another "nation-state".

EngineerGaming , 1 month ago

I remembered it as being AWS. Checked their blog, and the article about their spending mentions renting space in AWS and Azure too, indeed.

EngineerGaming , 1 month ago

Yes! I don't get why Matrix is the one that's more popular now. My Prosody is botherless, consumes little RAM and does not have storage concerns like Matrix does. It just does all the messaging basics. It needs more love.

EngineerGaming , 1 month ago

What settings presented most trouble to you, just curious?

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

What "someone else's service" would you recommend?

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

Google and MS are the entities you'd definitely want to keep your data away from, no thanks. And Proton doesn't work with normal mail clients, which is kind of a dealbreaker. I remember seeing a comparison chart somewhere with an assortment of other services.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

I am hosting both XMPP and Matrix now, and my main concern with Matrix is storage. I am afraid it would eat up the very limited disk space I have on my VPS. Conduit offers no built-in way to clean files up, and media is stored in a weird way that makes it a PITA to see which ones can and cannot be deleted. I now know that neither the database files nor the media can be just deleted.

I sorta like the idea of a chatroom existing on more than one server, but that MUST have been opt-in or at the very least opt-out.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

AFAIK it also gives you a link in text form.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

For a while, it was only CLI and not even listen on the project's main page - it was only linked on its Github. But now there is a GUI in several forms and it is listed on the main page, so kind of interested where it all goes.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

What really bothers me about Session is that you effectively cannot selfhost - hosting a node is prohibitively expensive. So seems like the only people who can realistically host a node are crypto bros, big companies and government agencies. Thanks, I would rather stick with IRC/XMPP/Matrix.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

AFAIK yes, it's the whole point.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

The most annoying thing about Signal is that they don't for some reason allow registering from desktop directly, so I had to use signal-cli. Which is inconvenient AF and it's a shame they haven't added a feature as simple as "input an SMS code in the desktop client".

Anyway, glad I only have to use it for a couple of guys and only with my real identity. So happy XMPP exists, and I have most of my 1-to-1 messaging with internet friends there. Very easy to host.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

A lot of people (me included) host servers for a single person, lol. This is more than normal.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

I just started hosting Matrix in addition to XMPP (just because some communities prefer it now), and I find it bothersome that it saves chat history and media to every participating server. IDK how much of an issue chat logs would be, but media scares me a lot. Hopefully cleaning old files manually would not break anything...

Anyway, I started with Conduit rather than Dendrite, and it seems like a good experience. Could not even hope to get Synapse going on my weak VPS.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

What also bothers me is how prominent matrix.org instance is. So you got a system that is supposed to be decentralized... Yet defederating from the one central server would break a lot.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

How much CPU, RAM and storage does it consume for you?

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

Not just bot-farms and spammers, but just a regular person. What is Signal's main feature? Encryption. You would not want to expose your sensitive chats to a smartphone, unless it has a privacy-respecting OS (which not all phones can do). Good thing I only have to use it with a couple of guys who don't want to use other encrypted communication methods.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

That is why XMPP is still superior, both for hosting and usage.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

Have you used this protocol at all? You CAN receive messages when offline, this is not IRC. And media uploads don't seem to be such a problem.

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

I just don't get what you're referring to when it comes to "not receiving messages while offline". The only thing that comes to mind that does this by design is OTR, but that's outdated anyway...

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

I got the screen while using a Socks proxy on my VPS. Not even the biggest VPS provider out there...

EngineerGaming , 2 months ago

Not a free VPS at all. I would look into it, but I don't remember the biggest datacenters being in that country.

EngineerGaming , 3 months ago

The only fetish subreddit I followed was banned. There was not even any nudity.

Fuck Reddit.

EngineerGaming , 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago)

This defeatist attitude, as well as "all-or-nothing" one, is one of the major privacy enemies by itself.

modern cars

You can not own a car at all, have an older one (which, granted, is not quite a universal longterm option), or from what I've seen in discussions - depending on the model, a lot of them can have the telematics units disconnected.

phones

Not using a smartphone, leaving it at home or using a Faraday cage (same goes for a dumbphone), using Lineage/Graphene/whatever on it.

credit cards

Cash. Even in a lot of online stores (the smaller ones, not large universal Amazon-like) I've shopped at you can order delivery to the store's office (which is usually at no extra cost) and pay with cash.

Yes, there are a lot of areas where you have lost. But that doesn't mean you should give up on everything at once then. Privacy is not binary, it is a spectrum.

EngineerGaming , 3 months ago

I was referring to him saying "privacy is a thing of the past". And yes, while laws would be the best course of action, they're unlikely (and in case of facial recognition - kind of impossible because at least here, the main facial recognition system is operated by the government). My point was that with what he mentioned, there is far from nothing a regular person can do for themselves and their loved ones.

EngineerGaming , 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago)

The thing I find most suspicious is their "onion routing". An average Joe like me cannot run a node like he can do with I2P or Tor. There is a gigantic upfront payment for that. So that ensures the nodes would be run by crypto bros, companies and governments.

EngineerGaming , 3 months ago

I assumed the popularity was not in the privacy scene, but rather in general population, just because of usability. It is just a more usable alternative to Whatsapp or VKontakte. It is pretty much the default messaging platform for young people like Whatsapp is for older ones.

EngineerGaming , 3 months ago

The fix would be different - not have it go through "someone else's computer". Whenever "someone else's computer" is involved, you should just assume they log everything. Even if they don't do it and don't want to - they can be silently made to do so.

EngineerGaming , 3 months ago

You don't have to have it out of a Faraday bag/turned on everywhere you go, only when using it directly.

EngineerGaming , 4 months ago

Not specific to Signal. I believe he was referring to places where Twilio doesn't serve, for example because of sanctions.

EngineerGaming , 4 months ago

I wish I could, but desktop application is limited in functionality and I don't know how to make the mobile app function properly (Waydroid doesn't allow bluetooth use). I don't have a mobile device I can make as private as my desktop, so I would not want to have my chats there.

EngineerGaming , 4 months ago

$6 a month is much more than my actual phone plan holy shit, that is a shit ton of money for such a subscription.

EngineerGaming , 4 months ago

I tried on an Android VM in a browser, but stopped at the phone number requirement. So does it need to be in a Google app specifically?

EngineerGaming , 4 months ago

I mean, my full plan with more internet and minutes than I need is around $4. Paying $6 for something you don't even fully use is a ripoff.

EngineerGaming , 4 months ago

For some reason, adding a desktop client didn't work for me, so I am stuck with Signal-cli. Good thing I don't have to use Signal that much. Anyway, I think not having an option to register right in the desktop client is absolutely unacceptable.

EngineerGaming , 4 months ago

A Pixel! The one that's often recommended for custom OSs!

EngineerGaming , 5 months ago

How do you count your visits? I don't even see whether mine has visits or not lol. I am not even sure if counting people would count as "tracking", so I am not sure whether it's acceptable in my books. The only feedback I got were a couple of emails.