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I'm curious why Whisper Systems aren't allowing registration with just a handle instead of tying accounts to a PSTN number. Telegram already allows this.

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> Telegram already allows this.

No it doesn't. You can have a handle, but only after verifying a number first.

And Telegram is not secure anyways: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/49782/is-telegr...

Check out Threema for a secure alternative that doesn't require a phone number: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threema

That's all very well, but no good if everyone you want to talk to already uses Telegram, which is proving to be quite popular.

IIRC, the last time the question was raised, the answer was "because that's what the average person expects".

Yeah, that's their answer, and it's a ridiculously shallow answer. I don't understand how people who are so dedicated to communications security won't add such a seemingly simple feature. Even Wickr allows it.

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