It seems like I constantly see “X secure messaging option is actually bullshit because it was purchased by Dr. Evil and Y is actually just e-mailing your messages directly to Xi Jinping.”
Is there an authoritatively “best” one I can just…download and setup easily? Is Signal good? Or do I need to solder a Raspberry Pi to the flux modulator of my home Linux NAS GUI, etc…?
I think that the person you’re responding to is asking for the specifics of why Briar is ethically superior. Do the other options have ethical issues? Or does Briar have a specific characteristic that makes it ethically superior (e.g. its p2p nature)?
I’d also like to know. It’s never occurred to me to look at the technical nature of secure messaging systems through the lens ethics so I find the idea intriguing.
I know it was a great attempt at humour on my part.
From an ethical standoint any earnst attempt at upholding privacy is equally valid. Past the technical necessity, you should probably look at those tools from any ulterior motives standpoint, or path toward a potential future monetization.
On this front, Telegram is clearly shit, Signal is centralized and nothing prevent it from turning “evil” and starting to charge money.
Ideally you’d need complete open sourceness to start getting your feet into ethics, possibly also some political statement beyond some bland “free speech” stance.
Ahh, gotcha. Apologies, I haven’t had enough caffeine yet, so it went completely over my head.
That makes sense to me. I also prefer Briar on that basis, although I currently don’t use it at all. I’ve had a hard enough time getting folks to switch to Signal, so I don’t want to try to push them to move once again. If Signal starts enshittifying then I’ll probably start the Sisyphean push to switch again.
edit: ugh it’s Sisyphean not Sisyphusian
I’m 100% pushing nothing but Signal. It’s the easiest one that brings with it a genuine mental switch. I like to assume that after such a transition it will be easier to look at anything else down the line, say if Meta buys it or some other dystopian shit.