mfwoods

That's true, and in that sense it doesn't really matter if they publish the server source or not (although they really should continue to do so). What does matter is that the client was designed with a possible malicious server in mind so you don't have to trust the code the server is running.

No. The clients are open source, and (at least on Android) you are able to verify that the source on Github is the same that was used to compile the client on Google Play with reproducible builds [1].

And even if the servers turn out to be malicious, the clients are designed to expose as little metadata as possible with things like private contact discovery[2], sealed sender[3] and private groups[4]. It's not perfect, but the data a malicious server could collect is limited.

[1] https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/tree/master/repr...

[2] https://signal.org/blog/private-contact-discovery/

[3] https://signal.org/blog/sealed-sender/

[4] https://signal.org/blog/signal-private-group-system/

But you can verify that the source they publish on Github is the same that was used to built the Google Play version with reproducible builds[1]. Also, Android apps are fairly easy to decompile. They are very likely to get caught if they publish an update with a backdoor.

[1] https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/tree/master/repr...

It's not, once linked the desktop client can be used independently of your phone.

Can I use Signal from desktop only?

Yes, the desktop client functions independently from the phone client once linked (so not like whatsapp that proxies everything through your phone).

Can I create an account from desktop?

Technically yes, but you either need to compile the desktop client yourself[0] and miss some features or use something like signal-cli[1] to act as the main client. So it's not supported (yet?).

Is my account independent of any specific device?

The first client that registers acts as the main client, so no. But it might get easier to restore access on a different device without using backups with the secure value recovery[2] stuff they are working on.

Can I use Signal on multiple computers at the same time with correct credentials?

It's possible to link and use several desktop clients at the same time.

[0] https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/blob/development...

[1] https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli

[2] https://signal.org/blog/secure-value-recovery/

Because there is no end to end encryption (other than some very limited temporary one on one chats that only work between two mobile devices) which means the server can (and does) read and store all your messages. Getting access to your full chat history is as simple as intercepting a single text, because the server has access to your plain text messages.

They might do some form of encryption to store the messages, but this is meaningless when they also have access to the keys and can decrypt any message whenever they want.

Not necessarily. But storing them in plain text on the server and all history accessible just by hijacking a phone number (or a single text message) is, considering the alternatives, don't you agree?

I assume they removed it because they don't want anyone to use old insecure code. The RedPhone server hasn't been used for years now and was replaced with a better implementation.

You're right there's no official support on their server, but there are some unofficial guides on their community forums on how to set it up. Also, GCM is not a hard dependency. On Android it will fall back to using only websockets (and no GCM) when Google Play Services is not installed since some time. What other features have they removed without replacement?

Only the encryption layer of the protocol is the same, they are not really compatible otherwise.

I assume it's a design trade-off when you have E2EE and don't store any messages on the server. With Signal (and I assume Wire) you have to register each device and each device needs to manage its keys. Every message is send multiple times, once for each device, and each device has an independent message queue on the server. That's why you only get the messages from after you registered the device.

Whatsapp doesn't have to do any of that and can just keep the keys on one device.

not proxying through your phone which Signal used to do and maybe still does

This is what Whatsapp does. Signal never did and has real multi-device support.

and the Signal server is closed source

It's not: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Server

Just because it's on a keyserver doesn't mean it's trustworthy. Keyservers do no verification of any kind on the keys they host.

If you(r system) trust the certificate that https://updates.signal.org/ is using, you should be confident that you are getting the correct keys.

(You shouldn't trust a stranger on the internet, but I am getting the same keys when I download them.)

You can build it yourself from source. While it's true that the debug version uses different servers, the functionality is there and can probably be enabled in a production build with little modifications.

This might get you started: https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Desktop/blob/d1f7f5...

You're right, I clarified it a little.

You still need a phone with a registered Signal on iOS or Android initially to activate the desktop version (sorry if that wasn't clear), but you can turn your phone off after.

Edit: It actually has the option to register without smartphone, but it's only enabled in the debug versions.

For those that don't want to enable Javascript, these are the hidden Linux instructions:

  $ curl -s https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt/keys.asc | sudo apt-key add -
  $ echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list
  $ sudo apt update && sudo apt install signal-desktop

Signal Desktop works without having your phone turned on. It acts like a full, independent client after linking it to your smartphone app (unlike WhatsApp, which does require your phone to be turned on).

Also, video chat has been in beta since March 2017.

Video chat actually came out of beta in March [0]. The beta was released in February.

[0] https://whispersystems.org/blog/signal-video-calls/

Actually, Signal works without routing the messages trough your phone. Instead they use a browser extension to store the keys client side, which acts as a full client with its own, separate keypair.

You could even register only the browser, without having a smartphone at all.

I don't think they intend to contribute back to the original OpenSSL code base, but see this as a OpenBSD only fork.

That's because there is no video. It's a sound fragment to which they added a single photo (not a render) to make it a video (why? no idea).

Thanks for reminding, almost forgot about that.

I just installed update openssl_1.0.1e-2+deb7u5 and libssl1.0.0_1.0.1e-2+deb7u5 on debian wheezy, so it seems the fix is now available.

Not only that, but these bases usually also have a non-trivial contribution to the local economy. Especially in smal(ler) towns, I'd expect there are quite some people who'd rather have a job because of those bases (directly or indirectly) than stop some of the spying (maybe).

According to Wikipedia[1] over 80-90% (or $163 million in 2011) of Mozilla's funding comes from Google. I'd love to see Mozilla be more independent from Google, but I don't think they're going anywhere without them anytime soon.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Corporation#Google

I'm not sure what this adds over applying PGP on the server?

The way to intercept the message with the server doing PGP would be to either MITM the connection or breach into the server to intercept before encryption.

In both cases you could just as well modify the javascript served to the browser to defeat the PGP done in the browser as well.

That small print to use a local account from 8.0 was moved one extra click away to the page you get on when you click on the button to register a new Microsoft Account in 8.1.

So it's still there but you have to really look for it.

Strictly speaking, the minimum should be 4, because TLDs could accept email too (resulting in a@ca).

I wonder how many of them have a first name starting with a C and saw this contest.

I'm guessing none.

They're also giving away free tickets to Paris for anyone who can prove they're named C. Sans. I don't think that's a very popular surname in The Netherlands.

He confirmed that Snowden is in Russia. Maybe he wants to get asylum first before he leaves for Ecuador.