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      Is an open secure instant messaging protocol not what is needed to allow any messaging app to communicate with any other, and to break the monopoly of Big Tech?

      news.movim.eu / gadgeteerza-tech-blog · Sunday, 31 January, 2021 - 12:44 · 1 minute

    The reason why we as consumers get held to ransom by Big Tech is because they are the one's who create walled gardens of their apps to ensure it is very difficult to leave their service and to maintain any communication with your friends or family who stay behind. They count on that sticky network effect to hold you in place.

    The world was not always like this, as we see with e-mail where any app can e-mail any other app. Neither was messaging as it was also once open.

    So what we need is a protocol to be broadly supported that will connect anyone to any other app supporting that open protocol, but which allows end-to-end encryption. We need apps to support it, just like Hubzilla which built in a number of plugins to allow it to communicate with Diaspora, XMPP, Fediverse, etc all from one place.

    What do we do about Big Tech like Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft? Well either they must be mandated by law to build in this protocol support, or we as consumers must start voting with our choices and not make use of services that are walled gardens. Our future lies in an open interoperable Internet offering privacy. The future cannot be walled gardens separating us all.

    From the link below the key columns are the License (how open is it for anyone to use without cost?) and End-To-End Encryption (can I use it privately?). From these requirements we can see that the following protocols could be suitable to consider: * Bitmessage (Desktop P2) * Briar (P2) but Android only * Echo * Jami (Desktop and Mobile P2P) * Matrix (Desktop and Mobile Federated Client-Server) * Ricochet (Desktop P2P) * Signal (Centralised Desktop and Mobile) * SIMPLE (more phones with SIP?) * Tox (Desktop and Mobile P2P) * XMPP (Desktop and Mobile Decentralized Client-Server)

    See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_instant_messaging_protocols

    #technology #instantmessengers #interoprability #bigtech #privacy

    • Comparison of instant messaging protocols

      The following is a comparison of instant messaging protocols. It contains basic general information about the protocols. Table of instant messaging protocols Note 1: In ~usr@a.b.com, the a.b.com part is known as the "hostmask" and can either be the server being connected from or a "cloak" granted by the server administrator; a more realistic example is ~myname@myisp.example.com. The tilde generally indicates that the username provided by the IRC client on signon was not verified with the ident service. Note 2: In usr@a.b.c/home, the home part is a "resource", which distinguishes the same user when logged in from multiple locations, possibly simultaneously; a more realistic...

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      Iran blocks Signal messaging app after WhatsApp exodus... BUT many wonder why WhatsApp and Instagram are not blocked

      news.movim.eu / gadgeteerza-tech-blog · Thursday, 28 January, 2021 - 11:35

    This is pretty puzzling as we know Signal is reputed to be secure (apart from having to provide a phone number to register) and although Telegram's default settings allow access to metadata and even message content ultimately, both have been banned because they have been proven before not to release any user data.

    But why was WhatsApp not banned in Iran, and neither in Russia previously either? This is what is really puzzling many people? It would be pure unfounded conjecture to speculate whether WhatsApp provides metadata about who contacts whom, locations, etc to authorities as we've not seen evidence of this yet as far as I know. We do not know this but all the same, the question does need to be asked.

    If you are in Iran I'd recommend though that you install XMPP, or P2P apps such as ManyVerse or similar anyway as centralised apps are just too easy to monitor or disable.

    See https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/26/iran-blocks-signal-messaging-app-after-whatsapp-exodus

    #technology #privacy #rights #instantmessengers #iran