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Ask HN: Why do you avoid Telegram, arguably one of the best cloud messengers?

19 points| stereotactic | 5 years ago

22 comments

order
[+] _odey|5 years ago|reply
I avoid everything else apart from Signal (this includes Telegram) because with Signal I trust that they have:

- end-to-end encryption enabled by default, and as far as I know there is no possible way to disable this even if I wanted to.

- no logs/state stored server side, or at least that's what they claimed.

- no SPAM. The only people that talk to me on signal are the ones I actually intend to talk to. Not sure if this is just because so few people use Signal or because they don't have a chat-bot API they try to push as a commercial offer.

- a non-profit organization structure, not that being a for-profit is bad, but I tend to trust non-profits more when it comes to things like respecting privacy as a core value of their business (a for-profit would scrap that and abuse their market share at the snap of a shareholder finger).

[+] sebastianconcpt|5 years ago|reply
I'd agree with all that. An in the past I'd also tend to like non-profits more until I've realized that these are as vulnerable as a for-profit in terms of ideological contamination.
[+] HelenePhisher|5 years ago|reply
No end-to-end encryption per default, and if I activate it I’m not able to see the conversation on other devices. Signal does that better.
[+] vpEfljFL|5 years ago|reply
- end-to-end encryption

- able to see the conversation on other devices

You can choose only one. Otherwise I can't see how it would be end-to-end encrypted. Your devices should create some sort of a group chat to make this work.

Group chats have large enough attack surface and "end-to-end encryption" will create false sense of security.

[+] stereotactic|5 years ago|reply
How does end to end encryption make that better?

I am genuinely curious. Is your threat model too severe that you really need to hide your conversations?

[+] jedieaston|5 years ago|reply
I don't know anyone who uses Telegram. Everyone I talk to uses SMS/iMessage, or maybe Discord (but that's a pain in the butt for individuals).
[+] stevekemp|5 years ago|reply
I recently signed up to an online course at Helsinki Open University, there is an online message-board for students (empty) and a Telegram group for the users of the course which has 350+ members.

This is the only real time I've used telegram. Mostly people that I know here in Helsinki, Finland, use WhatsApp (friends, neighborhood kids-group, etc), or facebook messenger (pottery teacher, local companies).

[+] cpach|5 years ago|reply
I use Whatsapp, Messenger and iMessage. Simply because they are convenient and there I can reach ~95% of my friends.
[+] j749342|5 years ago|reply
their encryption is closed source. If we don't know exactly how Telegram works at it's core, any encryption it might have is almost worthless IMHO. Signal and Keybase FTW
[+] Zenbit_UX|5 years ago|reply
I don't. Why do you think people avoid it?