Security isn’t the size of the app, it’s how you use it :)
Privacy
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
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Security isn’t the size of the app
This could have two meanings, one of which I figure I should address:
- If you mean "size of the userbase for an app," then yes, even projects that fly under the radar are much more secure than "mainstream" options. That's the main purpose of this infographic.
- If you mean "physical size of the app on the infographic," the reason they're different sizes is simply because they were hard to fit on one page, and this made it look nice ;)
I have this bad gut feeling about Signal and Proton, I have no evidence tho.
Maybe it's because the current administration uses signal to plan acts of war and proton's ceo is supportive of said administration.
Ah, I believe this is what's called "a conspiracy theory" if you had more details.
Some of those mentioned likely are compromised, but cannot figured out which. The thing, is to diversify our risk and the privacy minded to use different platforms (Proton VPN and Mullvad VPN for instance).
The good news, is that if an agency is compromising something, they will likely won't use the intel gathered in court cases in order to leave it open to future prey, so that is good for vast majority of users. The very few that are relevant enough should not trust even the genuine privacy tools and resort to enhanced methods and combining methodologies.
My impression, and just impression, is that I would trust **Tuta **more than Proton (and not because Proton's CEO that many interpreted wrong anyways) On VPN... a tad more trust on Mullvad. Signal, I would not use it for high stakes communication but OK for most people. GrapheneOS seems okay and we know for sure it does not leak info on a daily basics, but we have to be careful, it could have an obscure code dormant waiting for a trigger or could easily send data to an unsuspected server, Ironically, if I were Snoden, I would feel more comfortable using a Huawei Mate with HarmonyOS than a Pixel 9 with GrapheneOS... of course China spies too massively, but it has far less beef with Snoden than the US does, therefore not of much interest to Beijing.
Remember that overwhelming majority of FOSS goes without any audit, let alone a comprehensive one. This is what some trusted party should put AI checking ASAP all the FOSS out there!
Very interesting insights. Funnily I use all of the services you cautiously recommend, including GrapheneOS, but not HarmonyOS, hard pass on that one. As a German I am also legally required to prefer Tuta. :) I still have that OG 1€/Month contract.
Edit: Your last point is a good idea, although I think the more popular an open source app is, the less likely it is to be malicious. A lot more eyes on it and the xz backdoor was caught pretty much immediately.
But you do know that Tor/VPN is not really privacy, nor security? It hides your IP, but that's about it. If you still login, and give any information, and that could just be your "fingerprint" you are not anonymous...
VPNs know who you are and what websites you visit, so no privacy nor anonymity there. With Tor... It's complicated. That's why we have guides like this: http://blog.nowherejezfoltodf4jiyl6r56jnzintap5vyjlia7fkirfsnfizflqd.onion/opsec.
Only a few take their privacy serious. They, sadly, believe in the ethics of the Tech giants...
It's not about what you use, but how you use it. PEBCAK Almost 100% privacy and security is offline at home, reading a book, if you bought the book with cash and not online and/or with credit card.