Comment by Citizen8396
4 months ago
"As a new default, your phone number will no longer be visible to everyone in Signal."
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/6712070553754-P...
"Signal does not send your phone number to anyone unless you have enabled that others can see it and then you send them a message or make a call to them."
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007061452-Do...
Neither of these are the issue, the issue is the required association of a phone number with a Signal account. You cannot register a Signal account without a phone number.
It's something you'd want to avoid if your life, liberty or well-being are at risk if you're de-anonymized.
Realistically could use an e-sim or text verification service to sign up.
Signal, like most services, block text verification services, free texting apps, etc.
e-SIM wise, depending on where you are, that might require identifying yourself, and depending on your threat model, having to purchase one in person or with payment info that can be traced back to you might be too risky. Same thing when it comes to using one in a device you own, or in a location that can help de-anonymize you.
In the end, Signal does this because they know the ban hammer would come down hard on them from the Justice Department and every state AG and legislature if Signal allowed bad actors to anonymously use their app and network to commit crimes.
The issue is that there are plenty of people who are not doing heinous things whose security and anonymity might be at risk because of the measure put in place to placate governments.
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Google Voice worked for me a few years ago
This doesn't address the security problem
You're confusing privacy with security. Phone numbers are a privacy problem and NOT a security problem.
Think of it this way. There's a vault that's locked with secrets inside, but the door is transparent. This does not prevent privacy. But the vault provides security.
Signal is not a transparent door, but is opaque. You can't see inside the vault. But the phone number reveals that you have access to the vault. This is very different than a security problem. Anyone connecting the two can see that you have a vault (security)[0], but they cannot see inside (privacy) or even when you access it (privacy).
There is no security issue with phone numbers.
[0] or can see that at some point in time you had a vault or someone that previously had that number had a vault
Is there not a security problem if your phone number is seized? I don't need excuses about the likelihood of the threat model.
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A lack of privacy is a security problem for messaging. A lack of privacy predisposes some people to rubber hose cryptanalysis by the authorities.
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This entire post does not follow