UPLINK: 2020-04-25 Using Signal Messenger

Yesterday I installed Signal Messenger on my phone and I have to say I'm pretty impressed.

I would really love to get WhatsApp out of my life. I don't trust facebook at all and I'm convinced there is a backdoor to it. I've never understood how it can play youtube videos and show little previews of websites and still be encrypted. But then I just don't get the tech, there are plenty of documents that show that WhatsApp is. There are two things that are holding me back from moving. The obvious one is the lack of contacts using the app. There is so much inertia from people to move from WhatsApp. It is pretty much the only tool the western population use. That is a shame. The second was Whatsapp web. I spend a lot of time on my Macbook and love to share links, images and chat from there. But that problem is now solved - the Mac desktop app is pretty gucci and I'll use it for sure.

So now I have one friend on Signal. Hopefully this is the start of a movement. I have no idea how to convince more people to ditch whatsapp. I guess it's going to be impossible. It's just too established, plus people really don't see the point. Signal is pretty similar to Whatsapp functionality wise, but has some nice features such as disappearing messages.

With this whole corona virus thing going on, now is the time more than ever to be mindful of privacy. I'm using standard notes now to capture my thoughts and will be using Signal to share thoughts with those who share my privacy concerns. When you see articles like this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52409893 my mind races on where this is going. Being able to share private thoughts whilst in lockdown is going to be even more essential. When the day comes for the government to give me a tag to wear I want to have the tools in place to enable free thought and privacy.