We’re uninstalling WhatsApp spyware, but we can’t simply trust Signal or Telegram instead
There’s a WhatsApp exodus going on, as you’ve probably noticed, and a lot of people are asking if I’m joining the stampede.
The simplest answer is yes: I’m finally quitting WhatsApp and I’m asking BR Capital staff to avoid using any Facebook-owned platforms for any and all work communications. Today, we switched off our company Facebook page.
However, I can’t help but feel that both the question and the answer are missing the point.
Every mainstream solution to online privacy today requires you to place your trust in some kind of traditional corporation. Typical security advice will include simplistic advice about how to judge these corporations, such as:
- Trust Signal and Telegram rather than WhatsApp and Facebook messenger;
- Trust iOS rather than Android, because smartphone OEMs have too much control over how Android operates;
- Trust American services rather Russian or Chinese ones;
When faced with this sort of clear-seeming guidance, it’s worth remembering why so many people have joined the blockchain movement. As internet users, we want to be able to stop asking “who can we trust?” and instead ask “how can we avoid the awkward situation of needing to trust anyone?” One of the key slogans of blockchain is “verify, don’t trust.”
Blockchain messaging
There is nothing inherently complicated about a secure messaging app, even one that includes full end-to-end encryption of your messages (which is essential). However, it’s rather more complicated to secure a user’s valuable metadata, which is all the data they shed outside of what they put in their messages, including information that can potentially identify them and their contacts.
The only way to protect metadata is to seal it cryptographically (just like the message contents) and place it into a fully decentralized system over which no authority or major shareholder has any control. We need projects like Filecoin for storage as well as decentralized ID systems, and we need this technology urgently.
This is why, for example, I’m a big supporter of the Free TON blockchain and the apps being built on top of it, like TON Surf. Free TON is still in its infancy, with its mainnet having launched only last month, but this scalable, messaging-centric blockchain is already underpinned by more than 400 independent validators (including one of our companies, BR Staking). This makes it one of the most decentralized networks in the world.
But what about Signal?
What should we use until mainstream blockchain messaging arrives? Well, if you’re looking for the best centralized messaging app, it’s easy to understand why a lot of people turn to Signal. This platform is open source, in common with the main blockchain protocols, and it minimises remote data storage, as you can see in the comparison table below.
However, let’s be clear: It is not possible for something to be partly decentralized, or “decentralized-esque.” Either it is or it isn’t, and Signal isn’t. Neither is Telegram.
Send me a message
So yes, my investment fund is leaving WhatsApp and Facebook behind and we’ll use Signal instead for secure communications, plus Telegram and Slack for other stuff. But these alternative messaging apps are only a stop-gap. Long-term, the only solution to this problem that I can see is a decentralized blockchain messaging app.
So if you want to get in touch with me, try Signal or Telegram. But also, why not send me a message on TON Surf and let’s give it a try? This is me: TON Surf wallet address. My Surf address:
https://uri.ton.surf/surf/0:ce314eefba74043bfd3c6c81a3633e476adab99740191e708418ac9f30b4bc8c
