Harmful endorsement: Signal
Why it’s harmful:
- “Problem with Signal” by a PTIO critic
- “Goodbye Signal” by Resist.Berlin
- (unchecked) Will Signal keys be stored in the cloud? (ref)
| site | Signal endorsement | site’s position & mission are inconsistent | endorsement contains misinfo or withholds pitfalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| de-Google-ify | no (but suggests another poor choice: Telegram) | no | n/a w.r.t Signal, but Telegram imposes mobile phone svc. |
| Frama | no | no | n/a |
| PRISM-Break | yes | yes | site withholds OWS Signal wrongdoing |
| PTIO | yes | yes | PTIO cautions about requiring ph#, but neglects to say non-mobile phone users are excluded and withholds most of OWS’s wrongdoing & pitfalls. PTIO leads users to a page that hides the existence of an APK download. |
| Security Checklist | yes | yes | site withholds OWS Signal wrongdoing |
| Surveillance Self-Defense | yes | yes | misinfo: “Signal is a free and open source software” (proof) site withholds OWS Signal wrongdoing but ironically admits to the harm of mobile phones. |
| Stallman | no | no | n/a |
| Switching Software | yes | yes, if you consider Signal an unethical alternative | site withholds OWS Signal wrongdoing |
| ThinkPrivacy | yes | yes, users give up control with Signal as a result of OWS’s network protectionism & Signal’s use of Google reCAPTCHA. OWS also pushes users into a mass surveillance trap (Google Playstore) | site withholds OWS Signal wrongdoing. |
Harmful endorsement: Keybase
Why it’s harmful: article
(May 2020 update: Zoom acquired Keybase)
| site | endorsement | site’s position & mission are inconsistent | endorsement contains misinfo or withholds pitfalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| de-Google-ify | no | no | n/a |
| Frama | no | no | n/a |
| PRISM-Break | no | no | n/a |
| PTIO | yes | yes | the warning is esoteric & insignificant compared to all the serious issues that PTIO has actually been told of and recklessly fails to warn users about. |
| Security Checklist | no | no | n/a |
| Surveillance Self-Defense | yes | yes | site withholds Keybase wrongdoing, and sets users up for leaky and lost communications. |
| Stallman | no | no | n/a |
| Switching Software | no | no | n/a |
| ThinkPrivacy | yes | yes, users give up control with Keybase, which takes copious liberties once it’s installed on your system. And if you don’t install the server messages to you will be black-holed. This is the opposite of giving the user control over their data. | site withholds Keybase’s most significant wrongdoing and merely flags the Zoom acquisition |
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Keybase was acquired by Zoom, so any remaining privacy credibility it did have just zoomed away.
Indeed. Even before the acquisition Keybase was quite horrifying. The acquisition is almost insignificant in comparison.
I’m actually happy about the acquisition because it triggered the public to finally realize the garbage that it is. It’s like the universe has done some convenient garbage collection for us.