Comment by password4321
Comment by password4321 16 hours ago
In case anyone is not aware:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39444500 Keep your phone number private with Signal usernames (2024-02-20, 1422 points, 890 comments)
Comment by password4321 16 hours ago
In case anyone is not aware:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39444500 Keep your phone number private with Signal usernames (2024-02-20, 1422 points, 890 comments)
"As a new default, your phone number will no longer be visible to everyone in Signal."
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/6712070553754-P...
"Signal does not send your phone number to anyone unless you have enabled that others can see it and then you send them a message or make a call to them."
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007061452-Do...
Neither of these are the issue, the issue is the required association of a phone number with a Signal account. You cannot register a Signal account without a phone number.
It's something you'd want to avoid if your life, liberty or well-being are at risk if you're de-anonymized.
> the security problem
Think of it this way. There's a vault that's locked with secrets inside, but the door is transparent. This does not prevent privacy. But the vault provides security.
Signal is not a transparent door, but is opaque. You can't see inside the vault. But the phone number reveals that you have access to the vault. This is very different than a security problem. Anyone connecting the two can see that you have a vault (security)[0], but they cannot see inside (privacy) or even when you access it (privacy).
There is no security issue with phone numbers.
[0] or can see that at some point in time you had a vault or someone that previously had that number had a vault
Agreed as far as governments tracking Signal sign-ups. For a long time though user names were not even supported between Signal users.
This is different though. PP is saying that you require a phone number to sign up, and phone numbers are being used to match your account to your user name.