Is Telegram really that bad and should i look more into it or is sticking to signal really the best option?
Telegram is very sketchy and I don’t trust it at all. I’d stick with Signal if you can get your network of people to use it.
Encryption is self-made and they won’t let anyone audit it. Messages are stored on servers along with all the meta data (your phone number, location data, etc). There is no clear funding model to keep it up and running.
The whole org is murky/sketchy.
Doesn’t mean it has been hacked or their own employees able to unencrypted data. On the contrary, governments like Iran or Russia tried to ban telegram, since they wouldn’t unencrypt their data. You never hear any complaints from governments about WhatsApp for example, what has a much larger user base and is allegedly end to end encrypted. Yes, sending sensitive information should only be done via private chat, their end to end encrypted message tech. Storing the data in the server has its advantages like accessing all the data from multiple devices.
Up until some time ago, telegram has been funded by Pavel Durov, nowadays it’s funded by a premium tier that unlocks extra features.
It is the messenger with the most features that I know of, blowing everything else out of the water if you don’t care about end to end stuff. And I trust it more that’s WhatsApp or anything from Meta
I did the mistake that I got a bunch of people into Signal which is obviously already really good, but just a couple of month later I switched to Matrix and can’t get anyone to move other than my fiance and my dad.
Anyway, the Signal <-> Matrix bridge is quite solid.
I have a video which explains it in detail: https://tube.jeena.net/w/rYhp4ZT5Ykw1aBGqMr62KG
But in short, yes, but that is only a problem if you don’t host your own bridge, because you’re in control of the whole chain and everything from the bridge to your client is still encrypted.
just going to copy here something i wrote on reddit a few months almost a year ago[1]
i’ve been using telegram since it was released and …i don’t think i’ll be recommending it to new users anymore
it’s not just this announcement, but in general they seem to be really pushing the web3/blockchain/nft angle; along with sign in with telegram, payments through telegram, they feel like they’re trying to become the western wechat
but as for this in particular; obviously all of those usernames are going to be bought by scammers. why would a user trust them if they’re being bought and sold all the time? and why would a legitimate business buy them if most users won’t trust them? businesses want consistent branding, not ephemeral minutiæ
nobody is thinking “oh yeah, my bank is the best, it’s @bank on telegram” or “i think i’ll switch to a new bank, but i don’t know which. i guess i’ll just message @bank and see what happens” or “i just got a message from @gift! i must have won the lottery!”
plus, according to these messages, they’re taking usernames off users that already used them
most of my contacts are on telegram now, so i’m going to continue using it. but even aside from the encryption and privacy issues, i wouldn’t encourage anyone to switch to telegram
Honestly, there needs to be something completely open source, self-hosted, and non-corporate before I will do something like use a service anymore.
What you want then is SimpleX Chat Bonus that there are no identifiers and it’s been audited by Trail of Bits. You can self-host or use their servers.
Don’t know if I’m doing this right but !simplex@lemmy.ml
Matrix is another good option
