Slashdot has a comparison of a few alternatives. My preference is Briar as my user name would indicate!
Shout out to right wing nuts for rushing to Telegram early on - keeping me from ever using it.
It's not like they exactly didn't before: https://www.androidpolice.com/telegram-germany-user-data-surrendered/
Also, nothing said about whether they're going to start making transparency reports, not that I've expected anything else from this crapshow of a messenger...
we have updated our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, ensuring they are consistent across the world.
They never told they didn’t
They've explicitly told in there FAQ 0 bytes of info was disclosed. And I suspect whatever they've shared with Germans alone wasn't 7 bits long.
FAQ =/= TOS
In FAQ, you aren’t punished if you tell BS there, at least as I understand it.
They made it now more clear, what exactly mean by 0 byte:
"Protecting the children" is always code for "We're manufacturing consent to fuck you over."
Good thing I never used telegram.
any way to read this without a telegram account?
Sorry, should've provided the whole post:
Spoiler
🔎 Search on Telegram is more powerful than in other messaging apps because it allows users to find public channels and bots. Unfortunately, this feature has been abused by people who violated our Terms of Service to sell illegal goods.
💪 Over the last few weeks, a dedicated team of moderators, leveraging AI, has made Telegram Search much safer. All the problematic content we identified in Search is no longer accessible. If you still manage to find something unsafe or illegal in Telegram Search, please report it to us via @SearchReport.
🚫 To further deter criminals from abusing Telegram Search, we have updated our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, ensuring they are consistent across the world. We’ve made it clear that the IP addresses and phone numbers of those who violate our rules can be disclosed to relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests.
☝️ These measures should discourage criminals. Telegram Search is meant for finding friends and discovering news, not for promoting illegal goods. We won't let bad actors jeopardize the integrity of our platform for almost a billion users.
👀 Was this written by AI, or was it a person trying to be as annoying with their emojis as possible?
Looks like your post was written by AI so given your emoji use 😉
Ya that was the commentary on how shitty the icons were
Honestly that isn't bad. They were knowingly protecting people who target children.
Privacy should be enforced on a technical level with zero knowledge
"Protecting the children" is always the excuse for fascism, pay attention.
It has nothing to do with fascism. Fascism is what left leaning politicians call people they don't agree with. On the right they call people they don't like communists.
Outside of that mini rant I disagree with the idea that Telegram is a force for good. Telegram doesn't use e2ee and has questionable ties. They let people in public group chats post CSAM and other child abuse related stuff. If you look up telegram in the news it is constantly the platform used by criminals. It isn't private and it sure isn't anonymous. There are many better alternatives that don't actively support human trafficking and such. Its not like Telegram has zero knowledge of what happens. They knowingly allowed people to exploit children and then to go around bragging and plotting to harm others.
This isn't some attack on freedom or privacy. Telegram is frankly a risk to all. If you want encrypted messaging there are many other platforms that are way less sketchy.
They can take down the child weirdos and human traffickers
Take down my rom emulation hosted ZIPs and we'll fucking riot
Well it's only a matter of time
They took down a z- library post It's over
the libgen channel was practically eliminated in the last week
So what's the replacement?
The first messenger without user IDs
Other apps have user IDs: Signal, Matrix, Session, Briar, Jami, Cwtch, etc. SimpleX does not, not even random numbers. This radically improves your privacy. Why user IDs are bad for privacy? How does SimpleX work? Security assessment
For private messaging? Signal was always better. The way I use Telegram, and the way Telegram should be used, is like another public social media. I use it for following channels that give news about things I'm interested in.
Signal was always better
I love the premise of Signal, but there are too many red flags. Some of my issues are:
- Hostility against 3rd party clients
- US-based legal entity
- Too much tied with Google libs on android
- No official Fdroid support
- Open source claims are undermined by code blackouts from time to time.
All completely irrelevant to most people. Nobody they know is on those platforms.
There are only two alternatives to the Big Tech messengers that are anywhere near critical mass: Signal and the shady one we're talking about here.
Though I would love Matrix to go mainstream.
For the illegal goods? Sir this is privacy not piracy.
You really gonna come in here with a "want privacy? Must be because you're a criminal."? Get the fuck out.
Element 2.0 or Signal is only worth ones, I think.
But to be honest - it's only IP and phone number. If you have concerns about possibility of such request about your persona, you always can buy Telegram's anonymous phone number / fake telephone number / use VPN to login.
Just clarifying for the ones who don't know: Element is a Matrix client.
Wire. Fully encrypted, easily anonymous because no phone number needed
Privacy
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
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