Is it still viable to use Signal for privacy in 2026? It’s centralized, and has had many suspicious occurrences in the past.(Unopen source server code, careless whisper exploit which is still active as far as I know, and the whole mobile coin situation.)

Thoughts?

  • Nangijala@feddit.dk
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    13 hours ago

    I mean, I think the best rule of thumb is that unless you’re a tech wizard, you don’t have online privacy. At all.

    I don’t believe anything is super safe and secure online. Not even Signal.

    I always treat my online activity as if I am being surveilled because I probably am. Luckily I’m a boring bitch, so I don’t really have anything to hide, but I do appreciate that I can stay in touch with friends and family without having to linger on Facebook anymore. So there’s that.

    The only time I feel annoyed about people talking about Signal is when they talk about it as if it’s this super sketchy app that shares your data when literally every single friggin platform online does that and the same skeptical people use them all the time without question.

    That part annoys me because people keep acting like we aren’t already completely naked and our information owned by companies who do god knows what with it. If people are aware that everything they do is being surveilled and used for whatever purpose, then I don’t really mind, but it doesn’t seem like that is the case for many people. I genuinely still cannot believe how many people jumped on the DNA test trend, for example. Like holy shit, just give them your firstborn too, while you’re at it. XD but hey, we all make stupid mistakes now and again. I remember my first smartphone having a thumbprint lock and I just did that throughout my early to mid 20s without thinking about it. At least they only have one of my thumbprints but yeah. It’s so insidious, the way the tech world has lured us into giving up our information willingly.

    The worst thing anyone can do when they are online is to believe they have any privacy. That is hubris.

    • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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      12 hours ago

      are you me? because i look at it the same way, plus the fact that i always expect to be hopelessly outclassed by cia/nsa/mimossad/etc. so i always presume that everything i do online or on my phone is being broadcast to them in real time.

      my only hope is that i’m also so boring and inconsequential to them that they don’t give a rat’s ass at whatever i do. lol