I'd love to have more of my socializing happening on Signal. Anyone got a good way to convince the non-paranoid to use it?
If you change and abandon your principles were they really principles in the first place?
If there is a communications channel by which they can give you their phone number, you can use that same channel to discuss what messenger to use.
And, in doing so, achieve the security posture of the worse of the apps!
If you don't need to? You tell them to get Signal.
the only people that think it is bad are people who have a different opinion and feel attacked for whatever reason. I find it telling when people accuse others of virtue signaling because it is almost always someone who is jealous or insecure attacking said signaler.
Driving an economically efficient car -- choosing any sort of car -- has enormous consequences on one's life, for example. Choosing to by a particular car isn't a decision made lightly. But Prius drivers back in the day were accused of virtue signaling, as though the Prius were equivalent to a temporary tattoo.
In fact, speaking of temporary tattoos, simply having a bumper sticker advocating for animal rights, say, belief in anthropogenic climate change, or peace in the Middle East will expose one to regular displays of hostility and aggression, so it isn't a cheap signal.
In other words, in my experience your observation is spot on.
Virtue signaling means sending deliberate signals about your virtues, whether you "walk the walk" or not. People are often critiqued for going to uncomfortable lengths to signal their virtues, but something as simple as a "meat is murder" shirt or a MAGA hat is also virtue signaling.
- install [the thing]
- start it, show how it works
- search for yourself, start a convo, exchange messages
- add them to the group
IME the friction comes from having to do the first step, because it's really an annoyance no one cares about, so if you take it for yourself and do it they'll like that
I'd tell them that - just download it and you'll be texting me in a minute, and now nobody is tracking everyone you talk to.
On Signal, unless there is a some bug or outright fraud, afaik they cannot - that is one of their fundamental goals, and they did a lot of work to develop communication technology that worked without revealing that metadata.
(Of course, if someone gets access to your phone, then they know who you are talking to.)
I have so many WhatsApp group chats (here in Australia) that are critical for me these days, and that I don't control, and that have way too many people, and way too diverse a range of people, for me to have any hope whatsoever of migrating them all to Signal. School parents group chats (one for each class that my kids are in). Strata (aka Home Owners Association) committee group chat. Scouts group chat. Various friends groups chats. Boycotting WhatsApp is not an option for me, it would literally make me unable to function in a number of my day-to-day responsibilities.
There being a killer feature that Whatsapp users are missing out on won't convince everyone but it sure makes me feel less like a nerd when encouraging the switch to Signal.
I find it quite funny that such an obvious feature likely hasn't been added to Whatsapp yet because Meta thinks Instagram is for stories. That's pure speculation on my part though
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Protocol#:~:text=Severa...
Look at what data they can provide to governments when compelled by law: https://signal.org/bigbrother/
It seems to be but there is more to it than that.
What some people care about is not giving all their private conversations to masculine energy zuck - but don't expect any major wins.
Read a couple books. Privacy is a precondition to democracy.
Maybe you should? It might help improve your reading comprehension. The person you're responding to said that most normal people don't care enough to switch to a vastly less popular app, which is obviously true.
"Privacy is a precondition to democracy"
“Hey subjectsigma I got my new phone today. Where are all my messages?”
“… Do you have your old phone? That’s the only place they are.”
“No? Last time I got a new phone WhatsApp moved my messages over, and WA is E2EE so I thought it worked the same way.”
“Nope if you don’t have a backup or your old phone they’re gone. Sorry.”
“This is bullshit. Why does anyone use Signal. I can’t believe it deleted all my messages. I’m uninstalling it. Etc etc.”
We have a long way to go, my friend.
[1] There was a time WhatsApp had a nag-screen if you hadn't Backup to Google activated. So I guess most people would have eventually caved.