Privacy

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Signal is the No. 1 downloaded app in the Netherlands. But why? (techcrunch.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

But that assumes the Signal identity is the same as your IRL identity. Makes not just anonymity (which is often important for safety just as much as privacy!), but multiacc arbitrarily harder. I can't imagine using the same chat account for my online gaming buddies and for my real family!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

What you said is exactly the point of preventing spam. Having a real identity attached to a signal identity is the point to prevent spam. There is functionally no difference between your multiaccount and a spammer with 6000 accounts.

I can't imagine using the samw chat account for my online gaming buddies and for my real family!

I can't really see why, but if that's the case, signal is not the application for you, I suppose.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Couldn't you use a signal username with the gaming buddies, and your real name / number with the people that already know it?

I don't use signal much, but I convinced 1 person. They didn't give me their number but gave me a username instead.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There is no option to set a different handle and avatar for different groups of people tho, and I don't remember if the username shows if you get discovered by number. Also, this was just an example - usually you'd have more than two groups you'd want to isolate.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Gotcha, so you can have two "identities" at a time. I guess this is for spam prevention.

Afaik the username does not show if you are added by number

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Yeah, but I'd say separating your identities you use for different things is a very basic measure a lot of people would want to use.