*team worried about Slack conversations being tracked in the company*
Solution: Shared text file over network. Edit and save it for private communication. Best idea ever?

"Who has the text file open? I need to get into it!"

Can't you use something like what's app web ?

Threema?

Host your own IRC server.

@hypervtechnics Not open source so you can't verify shit about their security/crypto :/

@linuxxx Signal?

@hypervtechnics Yup I use that daily!

@linuxxx

For work/team communication? Wouldn't it get cumbersome to have to use your phone for work discussion? I'm told-- though the person who told me might be wrong or telling me dated information --that the only way to access signal on the desktop is with a chrome plugin. Is that incorrect?

Does Signal even support group chats?

@bahua Chrome/Chromium plugin has been deprecated, a electron app is available now!

If that doesn't work, Tox to the rescue :)

@bahua Yes haha and they have for years. By now also voice and video calls are supported!

It's attached to your own account though. How can that be compatible with business? For it to be acceptable for business use, every user would need to be issued a company phone to even join the conversation. That's prohibitively expensive for most use cases.

Signal's reliance on real phone numbers has always made it a nonstarter, for me.

@bahua But... WhatsApp relies on it too? And I think this is a good point because it prevents people from creating multiple accounts

@hypervtechnics

What reason should anyone care about having multiple accounts? And I certainly don't consider whatsapp acceptable for business use either.

@bahua As for the number, I genuinely agree with you. That's one of the very few things I don't like about Signal.

@linuxxx

Right, I can self-host email. I can create and manage email addresses. It's only a matter of knowledge. I cannot have a telephone number without relying entirely on a corporate entity. Further, it is actually a CRIME for me to do so myself.

This kind of corporatism is what makes me scratch my head about Signal, and confuses me when people tell me it's unequivocally the best choice for privacy. How can it be, when an asset I pay a monthly bill to have(my phone number) is a prerequisite?

@bahua I'm not going to start a discussion about the mobile number part (Moxie Marlinspike answered that question already) but to be fair, if you want to manage your email server from home, you'd need to have a (probably paid) Internet connection.

The thing with signal is that the organization behind it is ridiculously transparent about what they store, how they store it and why they store it. Although you have to take their word for it (but that's the case will all services), that gives me a very comfortable feeling.

Use smoke signals

@linuxxx

Sure, but the phone number requirement is far more stringent, and for no good reason I can identify, than assigning accounts to email addresses instead.

@linuxxx

What difference does it make where I manage my VPS/cloud instance from? Many people can get free internet in a number of places: libraries, coffee shops, stores, bars, airports, etc. While internet access is not necessarily free, it often can be.

@linuxxx even tho it's deprecated, it still works.

Why not telegram?

@bahua Fair point. Except that flaw I do trust it to a relative high degree.

@adryanev Because it's not as secure as advertised :/

@linuxxx could you give me the reason? I don't understand

@adryanev They aren't careful with hiding metadata and their crypto is home made which is not a good thing

@adryanev I wrote an article about it at much-security.nl

@linuxxx Thank you 😁