They might be trying to express that the Matrix protocol makes it easier for Israel to spy on someone using it. That idea came up somewhat often about 2 years ago, but I don’t know many relevant facts. It’s also common for people to say that the CIA and Israel cooperate, so that might be the connection to the CIA.
As for Signal, I am greatly annoyed that Signal requires your phone number for registration. Some people justify the centralization of Signal by saying that using a centralized network means that everyone using the network is using the same (good) security practices, and I’ve been told that the developers for Signal periodically express that they’re trying to remove that requirement, but I still try to avoid using Signal (or any networks that I can’t access without involving a phone number). The lack of progress on removing the requirement of your phone number from Signal (and the lack of information on where any centralized infrastructure is located) invites ideas about conspiring with the CIA.
Not really a work around, but you could get a VOIP number from MySudo or Hushed or a similar service and use that to sign up for Signal. Might at least be more private if you go about it with like a prepaid card and temp email or something.
If someone gets a new phone number from their carrier, they should not be prevented from registering with Signal indefinitely because the previous owner has reglock.
The intention of reglock is to prevent hijacking of numbers you actually own, not to guarantee the number for yourself for life.
While this change makes sense from the perspective of making it so you cannot “hold a number hostage” as long as you keep checking in, it is particularly important for people who’ve used disposable phone numbers to know this.
Source?
They might be trying to express that the Matrix protocol makes it easier for Israel to spy on someone using it. That idea came up somewhat often about 2 years ago, but I don’t know many relevant facts. It’s also common for people to say that the CIA and Israel cooperate, so that might be the connection to the CIA.
As for Signal, I am greatly annoyed that Signal requires your phone number for registration. Some people justify the centralization of Signal by saying that using a centralized network means that everyone using the network is using the same (good) security practices, and I’ve been told that the developers for Signal periodically express that they’re trying to remove that requirement, but I still try to avoid using Signal (or any networks that I can’t access without involving a phone number). The lack of progress on removing the requirement of your phone number from Signal (and the lack of information on where any centralized infrastructure is located) invites ideas about conspiring with the CIA.
Despite any uncertainty or discomfort, I defer to https://www.privacyguides.org/en/real-time-communication/ and https://soatok.blog/2024/07/31/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-signal-competitor/ to determine what methods of communication might be suitable for me to use.
Not really a work around, but you could get a VOIP number from MySudo or Hushed or a similar service and use that to sign up for Signal. Might at least be more private if you go about it with like a prepaid card and temp email or something.
I thought signal switched to allow usernames a few months ago
You can hide your phone number from other users, bit still need a phone number to sign up or to use your account.
I wouldn’t recommend that, since it’s likely that anyone who could register with Signal using the same phone number could harm your ability to communicate with other people reliably, and I don’t have many reasons to maintain a VoIP telephone number: https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2022/11/10/signal-number-registration-update/
I found that URL from https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2022/07/07/signal-configuration-and-hardening/ which I found from https://www.privacyguides.org/en/real-time-communication/
There is some documentation that supports this idea, like https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059792-Signal-PIN
I also recall that Mental Outlaw discussed this in the past, but I have failed to find where.