There are many messengers which help us communicate with each other, and of course, everyone wants other’s not to have access to their messages. Developers are trying to assure ourselves that all messages are protected and no one can read them.
Recently, the founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, called to remove the What’s app messenger from our phones, as it spies on us. But what about Telegram or other messengers, are they safe?
We are told that our messages are protected by end to end, peer to peer or cheak to cheak encryption, well, or any other combination of words, after reading which, an inexperienced person will say to himself- wow, these guys know their stuff.
But no one wonders why they require phone numbers while registration… Even if you ask such a question to the developers, they will come up with a combination of words that will make you believe this is necessary for complete happiness and harmony, or something else.
The main information is contained not in data (text, messages) but in meta data (who, whom, how) as phone numbers, IP addresses. The messenger that can provide not just encryption or hiding of metadata, but complete lack of them while communication processes, will be the most secure one’s.
The messenger Signal, which recommended by Snowden, and Japanese Line, until recently, did not require a phone number during registration, but it started to be blocked in some countries, and now it is impossible to open an account without specifying a phone number.
Of course companies will not lose a huge market, just because you don’t want anyone to read your messages. Yes, you and I have nothing to hide to hide, and anyone who wants to hide something will find a way to send messages. But no one knows how it will affect us in the future. You may send a funny picture, but someone whose reading your messages may not like it, moreover someone may not like it even if you just received it. Your data may be sold to third parties, and maybe if today they read our messages, then tomorrow, perhaps they will be able to control our thoughts.
Of those messengers that do not require a phone number or e-mail address during registration, I found not many. Perhaps the most interesting, in terms of design and fun is Crypviser. But there are also Odin chat, Status and Adamant ! Each of them has its pros and cons. And only you decide, which one to use. Read, Research, Analyze.
