Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

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Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
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If it ask for your phone number its not private. (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 day ago by lunatique@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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Nowadays, a majority of apps require you to sign up with your email or even worse your phone number. If you have a phone number attached to your name, meaning you went to a cell service/phone provider, and you gave them your ID, then no matter what app you use, no matter how private it says it is, it is not private. There is NO exception to this. Your identity is instantly tied to that account.

Signal is not private. I recommend Simplex or another peer to peer onion messaging app. They don't require email or phone number. So as long as you protect your IP you are anonymous

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[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

They know who you’re in contact with, who you communicate with the most due to the phone numbers being linked to your account. On their own website they say people can add you by searching your phone number in the search bar. If your phone number was not stored, this would not even be possible. A reference (like a phone but with your number on display) would have to be used in order to confirm that your account is the one that is being searched. The reference is the phone number. It is not private. I am not the one talking about anonymity over and over you are.

I've already covered the phone number conundrum further in this thread.

Answer you are a hypebeast promoing the most popular “privacy app”

Quite laughable. Have fun storming the castle bro.

[–] lunatique@lemmy.ml -2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Have fun when the signal data breach gets revealed SIS

[–] Jack_Burton@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 hours ago

What data breach could there possibly be? Phone numbers are already public information and that's literally the only info Signal has. Oh no! My phone number that's publicly available already has been released in a "breach"!

It's already been mentioned numerous times but you're confusing privacy and anonymity.

Per Cambridge Dictionary:

Privacy: someone's right to keep their personal matters and relationships secret

Anonymity: the situation in which someone's name is not given or known:

Using Signal, even after giving them your phone number, fits the definition of privacy in that matters discussed through the app are secret to anyone outside of the sender and recipient. Even if Signal is told to hand over messages, they can't, there's nothing to access on their end. Private? Yes. Anonymous? No.