@thevril @pluralistic @kino

#SurveillanceState

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(12/n)

Founded with American VC, #Israeli spyware firm #ParagonSolution seems to be coming full circle: the #US VC company AE Industrial Partners seems to have acquired it recently:

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/113925441768326458

...shortly after signing a $2m contract with the infamous #ICE:

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/113925438035086371

-> continued

@thevril @pluralistic @kino

#SurveillanceState

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(11/n)

...via@TheGuardian:

"#WhatsApp says journalists and civil society members were targets of #Israeli spyware,... #ParagonSolutions...1)
Nearly 100 journalists and other members of civil society using WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by #Meta,...

It is way past midnight to stop using #Meta products 2).

2)
Or other #BigTech apps.
//

@thevril @pluralistic @kino

#SurveillanceState

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(10/n)

... of #Facebook's #CambridgeAnalyticaScandal:

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/110536835544913854

No-one is safe from the FBI and the NSA anymore, as even during the #Biden Administration, illegal warrantless searches were frequent:

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/114024972369241754.

Even the #FourthEstate, not only in #LatinAmerica, but also the #US has been targeted;

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/113925430001498982:

...

@thevril @pluralistic @kino

#SurveillanceState

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(9/n)

... pushing #Threema for the general public, as it is the "least of all evil." This, in particular, as #WhatsApp owner #Meta is the worst/most leaky offender of them all.

The danger is not only immemt, but has been very real for many for some years, as the #ProjectAnalyticaSummit showed years after #Meta's #ProjectAnalyticaScandal in the wake...

@thevril @pluralistic @kino

#SurveillanceState

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(8/n)

... can pick up your meta data directly from there, thanks to the [#US] #CloudACT:... "

... my conclusion has been that, despite some concerning political utterings by a #Threema board member and the fact that, for years, it's encryption technology had been outdated...

https://schnaeppchenfuchs.com/news/threema-kritik-verschluesselung

... we should *still* rally around...

@thevril @pluralistic @kino

#SurveillanceState

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(7/n)

... our international discussion:

https://pleroma.iselfhost.com/objects/ea0bf992-d6f0-41c8-b71a-3129fa725f72

In conclusion, as all services using #US servers like signal have been compromised since the #CloudAct went into force,

"Since #Signal's entire traffic runs over the clouds of #Amazon [#AWS,] #Google, #Microsoft & #Cloudflare.

All US services...

@thevril @pluralistic @kino

#SurveillanceState

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(6/n)

... extensive analysis of alternatives about 2 years ago, most of which I had never heard of, despite the extensive discussions we've had here several times here in the #Fediverse (of which I can only still find one convo:

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/110989244048659250

There are but 2 alternatives of that French market research, #Olvid and #DataBag, that still made it...

@thevril @pluralistic @kino

#SurveillanceState

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(5/n)

... I still have one, but federated #XMPP just somehow can't seem to take hold outside of its own niche" .

If you wanted to dig down even further, you'd get to the point where you'd have to deal with #Protocols:

https://eattherich.club/@jmhorner/110991346559623491

A French librarian association made an...

@thevril @pluralistic @kino

#SurveillanceState

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(4/n)

....value anymore. The future of #Matrix always seems somehow, em.. unconfirmed? An interesting project. I wonder where it will go. There's been a LOT of #VC [#VentureCapital] funding up to now, one might assume some return is expected at some point. Maybe not though. I've run #Jabber servers in the past,...

#SurveillanceState

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(3/n)

@thevril @pluralistic

... still relegated to the "nerd niche," maybe unjustly so by now, IDK. (?)

https://mstdn.social/@distopico/111007271703326651

As @kino put it succintly in that convo,

"At this point I'm not taking the open source == good (just coz) argument at face...

@thevril

#SurveillanceState

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(2/n)

... I've pointed out in an older thread here and Cory @pluralistic in a now famous speech about #Enshittification, there's the severe lock-in effect, the negative aspects of the #NetworkEffect.

There are #XMPP and #Matrix, the "ancient" and "obvious" #FOSS choices. I've never used them but from what I've read, they were never able to gain much market share and are...

@thevril

#SurveillanceState #Surveillance #Technology #Meta

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(1/n)

True, however the most important criterion is that a replacement messenger app for #WhatsApp must have any chance at replacing #WhatsApp.
As a friend of mine phrased it here on Mastodon: "I have a hard time convincing my friend and family even to switch to [the known services,] #Signal or #Threema.
As...