this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2025
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(page 2) 43 comments
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[–] dsilverz@friendica.world 11 points 5 days ago (2 children)

@cyrano The "problem" (actually, the feature) with those censorship algorithms is that they rely a lot on the "exact contents" of the message ("Scunthorpe Problem"), so X is probably programmed to detect the Signal's domain and block due to the presence of such link (similar to how Facebook was/is blocking links to the largest PixelFed instances, and then they also decided to block links to DistroWatch and official websites from various Linux distros), so it's not programmed (yet) to censor just the "hexadecimal/base64/whatever" portion of the link alone. And there's where Tox could shine: a handle is literally a hexadecimal sequence, without Tox's domains, without URI Schemas, just a bunch of digits and letters from A to F.

I don't know why Tox isn't mentioned as a "instant messaging platform for whistleblowers": it got Onion (Tor) tunneling possibility (as well as tunneling it through I2P outproxies because it actually accepts any kind of SOCKS5 proxy), it's registration-less (even Matrix needs registration) so it's effectively anonymous IMO.

SimpleX seems to be that, too, although I didn't have the opportunity to use it more than I used Tox. But from the little I've used it, it's similar to Signal in the sense that it's a link (and a large link) and not simply a hash/hex sequence.

[–] perestroika@lemm.ee 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Tox is nice. My favourite flavour is qTox.

The typical pattern over here: if someone uses Signal, you guess they're some military type (wants things to be secure, doesn't care much about anonymity, wants things to work one way and simply).

If someone uses Tox, you guess they're some hacker / anarchist type (wants things to be secure, but also anonymizable, wants things to be flexible, even if it can backfire).

[–] cyrano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 5 days ago

Interesting, I did not know about that app https://tox.chat/index.html

[–] ATDA@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago

Sounds like that censorship conservatives are all up in a row about... Oh not anymore fancy that

[–] PassingThrough@lemm.ee 7 points 5 days ago (3 children)

So what’s the opinion here between Signal and SimpleX?

Signal gets all the attention, and seems more approachable but ties to a phone number which can be a big deal.

SimpleX ties to nothing but I could absolutely see people I know fucking it up and wondering where their “account” went.

So, Signal as an common man’s adoptable compromise and SimpleX to nerd out with full “opsec” and disposability? That about right?

[–] hossein@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 4 days ago

Signal has been under way more scrutiny than SimpleX. In both academic papers and security audits.

[–] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

SimpleX sounds like herpes.

[–] MisterD@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 days ago

So now we know what he kid's nickname will be when he gets herpes in high school

[–] Illecors@lemmy.cafe 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm trying to use simplex, mainly for the instance's chat. 2 things to say:

  • notifications work perfectly even without play store
  • every device has a separate account - I can't reuse the same one. Not the end of the world, but it's really annoying
[–] PassingThrough@lemm.ee 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

From the looks of it, the variety of ways you can purposefully or accidentally destroy your local database, and the strict limits on accessing your profile, really gives me the feeling SimpleX is intended to be extremely disposable and deniable.

After playing with it I just don’t see it being used for anything expected to be convenient or ongoing. Regarding the one device per account thing, I think the whole point is you just protect your one app, nobody is sneaking in your laptop or tablet, no remote leaks possible from a sync engine. On iOS you can link to a desktop app, but your phone must remain not just on, but in the app and on the pair screen. One twitch out, PC disconnects.

Feels like something for journalists, whistleblowers, protesters, and all the bad ones. It’s a burner app for your burner phone.

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