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Signal Piracy group (signal.group)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
81 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I saw some threads here about Telegram and piracy stuff being banned. So, as an experimental alternative, I created a public Signal group for piracy.

Maybe it'll be useful?

Before joining

Signal supports usernames and hiding telephone numbers. Here's a blog entry on how to do so. You might want to:

  • set a username
  • change your profile name (these are two separate things!)
  • hide your phone number
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[–] 20 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Good idea overall, unfortunately they still have your IP and phone number which means Europeans are still implicated

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  • [–] [S] 55 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Signal doesn't collect IPs and therefore can't even hand them out. It's been requested in 2021. Here's a list of requests from authorities they were allowed to publish. I've looked through 3 of the most recent and nowhere do they reveal IPs.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Sure they don't log the IPs, but it is technically impossible to not know the IP when you're running a centralized service.

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  • [–] [S] 8 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    What are the "popular" alternatives? Telegram stores everything, WhatsApp doesn't allow usernames, Matrix requires IPs too...

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  • [+] 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [+] 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    You are welcome to audit the source code and host the backend yourself.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    You understand that, for everyone except for a complete network pro, that is worse for security and privacy, right?

    Don't get me wrong, it's great that you can.

    But the reason piracy websites struggle so much with long term stability isn't because they're hosting the wrong software.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    TBH I would just use email over TOR and encrypt communication with PGP. Rotate identities every now and then and you should be fine. Yes it doesn't have forward secrecy but it removes the effort to find the "right messaging" service and is instead ubiquitous (and you can sign up for anonymous email addresses online too, which makes it even better).

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The phone number is not connected to the messages. That’s the only thing they have. It is the best app for privacy.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Arguable in it being "the best app for privacy". Can you link to a source which shows that phone numbers are not linked to accounts? (Why do they need them anyway?)

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    They have published requests from the law enforcement and their responses to these requests. The only unencrypted data they have is the phone number, a date of sign up and a date of the last login. That is it, everything else is encrypted and they cannot access it whatsoever.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    The problem is, if you're in Europe, your phone number is associated with your identity

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    No you don't.

    I can go to the corner shop/local garage right now, buy a SIM card for 99p and then buy a top-up voucher in cash to have a completely anonymous phone number.

    Albeit is the UK in Europe again? 🙈

    edit: where I would be worried if my privacy was on the line is I could also go to the local pawn shop / Cash Converters to ensure that SIM card isn't associated with an IMEI I've previously used and buy in cash a cheapo phone.

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Same in a few other European countries. I'm doing it right now with a few SIMs. You can also go on holiday to another country, get a few temporary SIMs there for a few quid and fly back home with the "contraband". Really not hard.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The last time I bought a SIM in the UK I was told specifically I could not buy it with cash.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago*

    So what? The law enforcement knows you have an account and knows the sign up date and last login. That doesn’t affect your privacy whatsoever. Besides, Europe isn’t a monolith. You can absolutely buy and use a SIM card without disclosing your name in some countries.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I believe the same is true in the US.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    It is not. You do not show any ID to get a phone number

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago* (1 child)

    You also don't need to show any ID for a business to meet "know-your-customer" regulations. Can you get a phone number without revealing your identity?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    That depends on your OPSEC

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Isn't the same true in the EU, then?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Only if you don't have to show your ID to get a number

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    That depends on your OPSEC.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 2 years ago

    Sometimes, but that's it. Authorities and signal itself can only say "this number has account with us since $signupDate and used it last on $usageDate". Signal can't say "we know $number is talking to $otherNumber" nor can they say "$number is in $group talking to $users".

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