Two questions.
My family insist on using Whatsapp for the family chats. I have to keep a copy on a device just so I can communicate with them. I do so under protest, as I was always told it isn’t secure. My brother has just said
“oh Whatsapp is encrypted, it’s perfectly secure”.
First, is it actually as encrypted and safe as my brother claims? That would solve everything.
Second, if it isn’t, where can I get some proof that we should switch to Telegram or whatever? Proof which doesn’t make me look like a raving loony?
Signal has a whole host of other problems from requiring a SIM card for an account (many places require a passport to get a SIM), to requiring an Android/iOS primary device (no Linux or KaiOS or phoneless life for you), & it’s still centralized metadata.
Matrix has defacto centralization issues around Matrix.org (they own the spec, largest server which syncs back all metadata, most popular clients) & the default clients/servers are still way too resource dependent for accessibly self-hosting for many (that’s starting to change finally).
You know what network is well decentralized, has low resources, & has more years of battle testing? XMPP + OMEMO for encryption. …And these are probably way the dark web tends to prefer it because it fits all the base requirements.