ambiguous_yelp

joined 3 months ago

Because anyone that contacts myusername@mydomain will know they are talking to the same person as a third party that messages that same user, so if those contacts are compromised then a third party could compromise your conversations by correlating them both to you even if the conversation was encrypted. And quantum matters now bc state and capital is hoovering up encrypted data in a strat called Harvest Now Decrypt Later bc they think theyll be able to decrypt it all for cheap in a few short years so its worth holding onto bc storage is cheap. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvest_now%2C_decrypt_later https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UrdExQW0cs

Ive noticed a couple well upvoted comments relating to the the simplex VC funding so rather than repeat myself I will link the response I wrote already in this comment section https://vegantheoryclub.org/post/916089/1559879

[–] ambiguous_yelp@vegantheoryclub.org 1 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Is there any way to use xmpp such that it is post quantum encrypted at least? Even so it has persistent user ids right? That would still be a simplex advantage

I think you will be interested in the whitepaper, I will append it to the OP https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmq/blob/stable/protocol/overview-tjr.md I've read it and it satisfied me.

please see my comment above and the linked blogpost from evgeny

As an anarchocommmunist I hope they go non profit too, but the protocol is robust and decentralised enough that I'm not worried whatevever the company does it can just be forked. Look at Simple Mobile Tools for andoird, an open source project that sold out to a data harvesting company, within a few months it was forked and now you can get the exact same apps under the name Fossify. And then theres the example of Redhat a forprofit company that "sells linux" by providing techniocal consultation to large businesses. Idk anyone who would say that redhat linux is enshittified bc redhat is forprofit. Evgeny the lead dev has said several times this is the kind of model they want to pursue and they recognise privacy and anonymity is their only selling point, they are into right wing conspiracy theories too so they have an ideological reason not to sell out like that they actually believe in the right to privacy and anonymity. You may be interested in evgenys blog posts about this contention https://simplex.chat/blog/20240516-simplex-redefining-privacy-hard-choices.html

  1. If you switch relays you alienate the 99% of people on the central signal network who now have to put in extra work just to talk to you, simplex is decentralised by design anyone can use any relay they choose and the UI is seemlesss bc its handled in the invite link and handshake protocol. 2. Two ways contacts can be compromised, by the attacker simply looking at the phone numbers of you contacts, or if they use usernames instead they can subpoena signal to divulge the phone number associated with the username, from there its trivial to use either leaked phone details or subpoena the phone companies to get your personal details

This is an accurate list of the cons, but my title clearly states I am solely talking about privacy/anonymity goals. Of particular interest was the second bullet there I knew there was a timeout but I didnt think it was that short I will keep that in mind and perhaps suggest it be increased to like at least a couple months. Anyway yes simplex is not feature compatible with signal and matrix. that was not the point of the post. Imo though it IS good enough enough to replace bare bones direct messaging with trusted contacts as I have been using it like that for about 6 months now and it has only gotten more stable since then.

This is kind of black or white thinking to think that its only valuable to use simplex if every one of your contacts uses it. I think of digital privacy like plugging holes in a simking ship to some extent it doesnt matter if you dont get them all if you can bail water fast enough but the more you plug the better. I recommend the arguments in these videos as responses to "i have nothing to hide" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcqh0ZSza50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aXIXozAsOE but if everyone you could possible ask to add you on simplex is thinking like this that they don't want to be lumped in with criminals and what not then this is a disturbing trend that privacy is seen as suspicious

I understand the skepticism, the owner evgeny is a right wing conspiracy person but it has actually already had a security review you might be interested in https://simplex.chat/blog/20241014-simplex-network-v6-1-security-review-better-calls-user-experience.html also because of the decentralised design it is easier to run a simplex relay than a matrix homeserver for example hackliberty.net runs private relays for simplex. All in all I think you're right to be skeptical of a for profit enterprise but evgeny has said several times they have no intention to profit from user data, they recognise that privacy and anonymity is p much their only selling point so theyve said they want to make profit selling consultations and techniocal expertise to large corporations, kinda like how redhat "sells linux" i guess https://simplex.chat/blog/20240516-simplex-redefining-privacy-hard-choices.html as an anarchocommunist I dont agree with some of the views in this blogpost but I think reading it is a good way to dispell some of the skepticism

 

The following is a cross-post from my mastodon thread

In the wake of metas enshitiffication I have seen people recommend Signal and Matrix as private open source alternatives to meta products. In the following thread I will outline how if your goal is software freedom anti surveillance and anti censorship the best option for direct and group messaging is neither Signal nor Matrix but instead the up and coming https://simplex.chat/

Signal is centralised meaning its vulnerable to censorship it almost got backdoored by uks online safety bill and that bill still has a damocles sword clause hanging over signal. Signal is also not anonymous, your account is linked to you through your phone number, if your contacts are compromised then your conversations can easily be linked back to you and your contacts all be correlated. In contrast simplex is like having "a burner phone for every contact" meaning even if one contact is correlated you have no consistent identity that can be compromised by default. Also simplex has a custom onion routing protocol to hide your ip from relay servers by default and it makes it very easy to connect over tor if simplex is blocked in your country im pretty sure signal doesnt do that. Matrix has been floated as potentially being a decentralised and e2ee open source alternative to Signal, but Signal shares one massive pro with SimpleX which is that both have post quantum encryption meaning that quantum computers that many researchers say are a few short years away from being able to decrypt all historical data that is encrypted using classical techniques ie not post-quantum encryption - such as the private messages you are sending across matrix today Afaik Matrix currently has no plans to add post quantum (PQ) encryption today and previously they were relying on it being implemented in MLS a standard that Matrix has been trying to adapt to their decentralised framework for years with stagnant process. Whats more afaict the motion to add PQ to MLS quietly expired and wasn't renewed so it's likely not coming any time soon. SimpleX has PQ on top of their classical encryption implemented and working today and you can download the app and have PQ rn (the additional classical encryption is insurance in case it turns out PQ has some classical attack vector, hybrid encryption is recommended by sec researchers at this stage) In conclusion both Signal and SimpleX are PQ unlike matrix but SimpleX and Matrix are decentralised and less vulnerable to censorship than Signal, while only SimpleX supports Tor connections and protects ur IP with or without Tor, and has no persistent unique identifier creating a "burner phone for every contact" scenario where compromised contacts cant necessarily be used to correlate ur other contacts/groups simply by looking at ur phone number/username in those groups

Heres some evidence and argumentation to support building post quantum encryption now, state and capital are hoovering up encrypted data rn to decrypt for profit as soon as it becomes cheap enough to do so with quantum computers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UrdExQW0cs

And here's the best explainer of SimpleX on youtube, sorry about the racist thumbnail the guys a right winger but his knowledge on OPSEC is valuable. If you don't know why the thumbnail is racist search "Terry Davis glow in dark" (the search results for which I have to give a racist slur cw for but theres no slurs in this video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cRu98XSap0

edit: see whitepaper for technical privacy details https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmq/blob/stable/protocol/overview-tjr.md