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Uniting for Internet Freedom: Tor Project & Tails Join Forces | Tor Project
(blog.torproject.org)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
I know that it disabled desktop registration a few years ago. Under what conditions did you manage to register without a smartphone after that?
At the very least, I know instances of anti-war channels being censored. I don't know about CSAM, but I was thinking about drugs and dissidents.
Relying on one company's good will rather than it being physically unable to comply is not a good strategy for any serious safety.
Requiring an identifier that is tied to a government ID in many if not most jurisdictions. Requiring a mobile device and their semi-proprietary app to register. Banning people for "suspicious behavior" while suspicious means using tech that may help hide one's identity.
How so? In an actually safe solution, the content of the messages would have been useless without the keys stored only on the clients, unlike Telegram. Signal is like this. And in a better situation, the metadata wouldn't be a ticking time bomb either, as it would be scattered across multiple servers rather than packed neatly in one company's care.
That approach is pretty childish, as Telegram did have access to the keys. At the end, this is all theater if it relies on the good will of the company. An actually "untouchable system" with "decentralized complexity" would be the one where no one server operator can compromise the whole thing is they wanted so.
You can rent a VPS outside of Five Eyes, duh. Or choose one that someone else already hosts there. Having a choice is very important, and with Telegram you're just locked to a single provider.
...And most people are on things like Whatsapp or Facebook. Does that make them any good? It is fine to be there if you have to, but you wouldn't trust them with your safety.