this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2024
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Well, I don't like this. The idea of sacrificing messaging history in favour of illusory security gains doesn't sit well with me. Same goes for Signal backups.
It's not "security" gains, it's privacy gains, and not storing messages in a central location is a privacy feature, not a bug.
That said, it's not for everyone, and I respect that. That said, I don't use Signal for things that need to stick around long-term, it's just an SMS replacement for me, and messages are only relevant for a week, at most.
Whatever, I mean 3rd party access to messages, which includes both security and privacy.
Have you ever heard of Viber? Even though their chats are E2EE, there's an option to sync them from mobile to desktop, and it was available for more than a decade. Messages are not stored in a central location.
Signal just isn't good enough for anything serious. It's a rather simple and not a very convenient app, that is getting too much attention from privacy enthusiasts.
There's no technical reason why they couldn't sync messages, but there is an attack if they do. Basically, someone could set up a new device with your account and grab all of your past messages. Since Signal doesn't sync messages, they'll only get messages going forward.
It should certainly be an option to sync, but I don't think it should be on by default (or at least it should ask on setup).
So just like I said, illusory security gains.
The security gains may be illusory, but the privacy benefits are significant.
Not being able to see my old messages on desktop is a privacy benefit? I don't think you are correct.
Yes it is. If you can set up the app on a new device and access all your old messages, then that means anyone who can get your account creds can do the same. That could be a hacker, an ex, or law enforcement.
To each their own. I get the need to have historical chat and all, and I run a Mattermost server for friends for the last few years and I depend on history there too. But on Signal it's really just what I use with work peeps for after hours non-Teams IT chat in case something breaks and they needs emergency help since we all basically mute notifications for Teams after work.