I am trying to convince my group to switch from WhatsApp to Signal and we plan to vote on it soon. So, I plan to use the replies in this thread to compile a list of reasons to use as talking points. Preferably, I need something that can be understood on a personal level as some of my friends are deeply cynical and have no concern about escaping techno-feudalism and surveillance.
You might think you don’t have anything to hide right now and you’re fine with a corporation collecting your data. However, you never know when something that is inextricable from your persona might be made illegal and you’d be prosecuted based on the metadata openly available through your messaging platform.
It’s what happened to Jews in Germany
Fuck the zuck
What’s app is Facebook, what other argument do you need? Unless this you retirement home group chat how the fuck is anyone under 50 still using Facebook.
I hate facebook and it’s lizard CEO. Also Signal is open source and private.
All the reasons the good folks have set out here are great.
I tell my employee: if you don’t have a secure line of communication already installed when you need it, it’s too late. Ask me how I know…
…how do you know?
Shitbook knowingly contributed to the genocide against the Rohingas in Myanmar. I want nothing to do with a company that is this evil.
Meta. But perhaps an additional and entirely petty reason: It’s a terrible pun.
I never processed that it was a pun. Goddamn it’s terrible
It’s a…? Oh. Ew.
Zucc at the time. That they’re American at all now.
The sole fact that it’s open source should be enough to convince anyone, but assuming your family isn’t familiar with the concept you’d have to explain it to them. It can turn into a big conversation pretty quickly. The way I’ve done it (with a close friend group) is with the help of a friend, a respected member of this group who happens to be a developer and militant, so we were two people telling everybody that we need to switch, one of which essentially considered an authority in the matter. If I were you I’d try to find that second person. In numbers, you need fewer arguments to convince people.
It’s simply trust in the organization that maintains the app.
Unless you’re coordination/organizing about legal grey or red areas then it’s not much danger. Meta says it’s E2E but do they really not have access to your data? I don’t believe them. Any data they have would be happily handed over to the authorities just like your protonmail.
Signal just straight up doesn’t have access since it’s all stored at the endpoint and they provide no remote backup.
I just don’t want to support big corporations anymore. I moved some of my chats to signal with some really nice people but most of my chats and work are still on whatsapp…
Same thing that made me choose WhatsApp, people are there. We need to force companies to allow for open messenger standards now
WhatsApp has to be interoperable already but Signal is doing some moral high ground thing where they don’t let their users choose to engage in it
Matrix remains my favorite. Warts and all.
Delta chat for me
I never used WhatsApp.
