![]() ![]() And it might just be the encryption that's to blame. Encryption & SecurityĪlthough Signal and Telegram are considered safer alternatives to WhatsApp, I wouldn't be so sure about Telegram. People liked Telegram because it's fast, easy to use, and has cloud storage that allows unlimited file sharing of any size. Telegram is a long-standing competitor of WhatsApp created by Pavel Durov, the Russian entrepreneur behind Russia's most popular social network VK (which he has since lost control of). Signal is tied to a phone number, which although can be considered a disadvantage in terms of privacy (however, it's nothing that can't be solved by an anonymous SIM card) but at the same time it helps a lot just the network effect of Signal – if you want to write to someone and you have them saved in your phone book, you already have them automatically saved on Signal. It's been in development since 2010, but the first version of what we know as Signal came out in 2015. It has state-of-the-art encryption based on the well-described Signal Messaging Protocol. Signal is a private messenger created by the non-profit organization Signal Foundation. Comparison of data collection of individual apps Intro to Signal But let's stay with Signal and Telegram and compare them with a short intro. Outside of Telegram and Signal, there are many other encrypted messengers (such as Threema, which also doesn't require a phone number). However, we'll go into more detail on data leakage and data gathering in the section on encryption and security. Telegram has your contact details and user ID (which honestly also isn't much compared to most messengers). Signal collects zero data that could be linked to your identity - just a phone number to register. If you look at the privacy labels of Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp (Facebook), it's clear that WhatsApp and Facebook know the most about you. But what are the real threats? And are we sure that Signal and Telegram are better? Let's find out. No wonder the news about WhatsApp sounds very disturbing to many people. So everything "theoretical" is only theoretical, and unfortunately only the WhatsApp/Apple developers know the truth.įacebook has a history of newsfeed manipulation and many other privacy loopholes. ![]() And with all of this, there's also the fact that WhatsApp is not open to keep in mind. This includes hardware information, contact details, approximate location, purchase history, payment information, etc. The main problem with WhatsApp's recent policy update is that if you agree to it, Facebook will theoretically be able to use the data you share with WhatsApp. WhatsApp has thus headed somewhere into the world of commercial services, towards shopping and above all towards Big Brother. Its main motivation was to make it easier for Facebook's business customers to communicate and sell to WhatsApp users. The problem with the labels could still be handled if WhatsApp hadn't simultaneously decided to release an unexpected change to the terms and conditions for all its users. It shows how much metadata each app collects about its users. A label that Apple added to WhatsApp in its store and later to its iMessage app. Only Apple made it public in the aftermath, embarrassing WhatsAppers quite a bit. Instead of an explanation, WhatsApp began to nonsensically counter with classic "you're the bad guys too" arguments, stating that even iMessage, Apple's similar app, has no privacy-related label. Indeed, Apple, through a label in its App Store that informs customers about the details of their privacy settings, has warned that WhatsApp collects extensive amounts of metadata about its two billion users. While WhatsApp itself is to blame for the exodus, it has also been greatly aided by Apple. It is nothing but a mass exodus of WhatsApp users to Signal and Telegram. ![]() The year 2021 is, after all, a significant historical milestone for WhatsApp and it is (also) related to Signal and Telegram. What are all the ways in which Signal and Telegram differ, and which features of these applications really determine their widespread use, that is, their network effect? Does it even make sense to mention WhatsApp? We also outlined why, from a security and privacy perspective, I don't consider Telegram to be as good a technology as Signal.īut let's take a little closer look at the specifics of Signal and Telegram from a perspective other than privacy. In the last article about encrypted communication and clients for big brother apps, we explained what the network effect is, what privacy actually is, and all the different ways we can look at it. ![]()
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