Signal has been blocked by Venezuela and Russia
Signal has been blocked by Venezuela and Russia
"Signal is being blocked in Venezuela and Russia. The app is a popular choice for encrypted messaging and people trying to avoid government censorship, and the blocks appear to be part of a crackdown on internal dissent in both countries..."
It’s like a medal of honor for a privacy preserving app 😄
Indeed. If whatsapp isn't on the list, then I have all the confirmation I need.
The Russian government has also allegedly begun preparations to block the WhatsApp messaging app.
https://kyivindependent.com/messenger-signal-blocked-in-russia-media-says/
Zucks check didn't clear yet.
Maduro uninstalled whatsapp live on television a few days ago
"Banned in 15 dicatorships!"
could matrix.org be as easily blocked, since it's decentralized I'm wondering?
At least it means that Signal is working as intended if they are blocking it, I guess that they don't have back doors.
Being decentralized prevents DNS or IP blocks but not blocks through DPI.
Signal has an option to masquerade it's traffic as regular HTTPS, I don't know if Matrix can do such a thing.
Matrix is in fact decentralized but in reality it is not so much, I don't know the number exactly but the majority of users use the matrix.org server
could matrix.org be as easily blocked, since it’s decentralized I’m wondering?>
Or SimpleX?
It cannot be easily blocked especially if you use your own homeserver every homeserver replicates the channel and it can operate without the original server! That's why signal and telegram are inherently flawed.
To be devils advocate in a sense, this may mean that it doesn't have any backdoors that Russia or Venezuela can use, but the NSA or something still could have one of their own.
Yes
Signal honored!
Would peer to peer apps be resistant to this sort of thing?
Yes, but you'll have to install them from sources other than what governments deem official. Like F-droid.
Now, if they block p2p traffic that's a different story
I am totally cool with F-droid.
why telegram is not blocked? makes you think...
WhatsApp supposedly uses Signal protocol.
Why is THAT not blocked? Certainly they wouldnt roll their own encryption and bypass Signal security protocols after having Moxie come in, right? Right????
Russia is reportedly planning to block WhatsApp as well.
It is owned by Meta and is proprietary
Telegram is not secure, I guess if you can listen to it better not block it.
I mean it was blocked before Signal was blocked. Russia somewhat famously badly broke their Internet trying to shutdown telegram... and eventually gave up.
I'm guessing Signal finally has enough market share to get the Russian government's attention but not enough market share that they think the web of proxies that kept Telegram online will keep Signal online.
On April 16, 2018, the Russian government began blocking access to Telegram, an instant messaging service. The blocking led to interruptions in the operation of many third-party services, but practically did not affect the availability of Telegram in Russia. It was officially unblocked on June 19, 2020
Some say it was unblocked because they made a deal with Durov. Another opinion is that too many people and services including officials continued to rely on it even during the time it was blocked. Regardless, Telegram did a huge job on circumventing those blocks.
It isn't private
Honestly I would've expected it to be blocked much earlier
You need a certain market saturation before a ban becomes useful. If very few people are using the service, there's little incentive to invest time/energy in a block.
I suspect the recent wave of riots in the wake of the election is driving the urgency.
would have* expected it
That's what would've means?
So signel proxy for the win?
Why countries that do not prosecute political dissent bock apps used by political dissenters? /s
matrix stays winning
Matrix isn't secure depending on how you use it. It also doesn't protect individual identities terribly well.
Simplex Chat would be the better option however the main Simplex Chat server and matrix server could end up blocked as well.
they figured it out that it's CIA :)
Smart move, considering Signal is a US-hosted centralized service that has to comply with US NSL laws.
These comments below seem to be unaware of all the issues privacy advocates have of signal.
I don't get it, are you really arguing that Russia and Venezuela are blocking Signal to protect their citizens from American snooping?
All countries should ban US-domiciled companies like signal, or any communication platform hosted in Five-eyes countries, and especially ones domiciled in the US, which has to adhere to National Security Letters.
Signal has strong cryptographic protocols that are not easily broken. It pioneered the use of double ratchet encryption. (Different keys for each message)
It does expose phone numbers to Signal and the US government but that may or may no be a concern depending on what your threat model is.
they hated him because he spoke the truth smh
use matrix, briar, simplex in that order
also what email platforms + vpns do you recommend, out of curiosity?