Hi there community,
I am on the lookout for apps that offer more security and privacy than Telegram. But in a way so that I can still use Telegram. The reason being, many people use Telegram for messaging , managing communities etc. This app might be a good example, let me know what’s your opinion and add your suggestions if possible.
Thank you in advance.
Beeper, perhaps?
This is not going to make your Telegram chats private or secure though.
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I don’t think you really can make Telegram more private or secure by using a third party client or sticking it behind a matrix bridge. It will be more convenient, yes, but at the end of the day Telegram will still have access to the chat data (since it’s unencrypted by default).
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Beeper might be the app I am looking for. The reason I posted this question is my personal concern of installing Telegram on a desktop. If I want a secure communication app I will use SimpleX Chat,Briar, Matrix,Signal… The thing with Telegram from my personal experience is that still a number of communities use it for community management. While not providing other means of contact or are just slow to respond e.g. email.Even if you have that one person how still believes Telegram won’t misuse their data, then this is an alternative while not making the chats private or secure as you pointed out.The point is, it’s a hassle to convince people to switch from Telegram to a privacy preserving and secure app.
Unfortunately, I am aware of all the facts. And I did think about using the Telegram Web but logging in can be a hassle, sometimes because I do travel a lot.The chat’s are insecure, either way. So There aren’t any pros to using Telegram Web on my part.
There is nothing good about Telegram. I don’t know why it’s being pushed as a “privacy” respecting app. It literally requires a phone number to sign up. It requires you to agree to their terms, which are sketchy, and their transparency is lacking. You’re better off using an app like Briar, Element or equivalent (for Matrix), or Session. The end goal is to have a standardized E2EE setup that isn’t opt-in and that doesn’t come with sketchy NFT usernames (…seriously, why?).
I have taken a deep dive into Telegram. I cannot find a single thread of good behind using it, not when the apps I mentioned above—even with fewer features—have far better privacy and security, They can be thrown away. You can create multiple accounts and access them using Tor. Unlike your phone number, which is certainly connected to your name or other data.
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Anyone seen the recent interview of the CEO of Telegram and Tucker Carlson?
Very interesting, would love others input.
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Is slack private?
Telegram creator Pavel Durov gave an almost hour-long interview to journalist Tucker Carlson. Main points:
- “The FBI and security services pay too much attention to us, no matter where we are in the United States,” Durov said, talking about surveillance by American intelligence services.
He said that during one of his visits to the USA, an engineer who maintains the messenger traveled with him. According to Durov, they tried to recruit him.
“Whenever I go to the United States, FBI agents meet me at the airport and ask me questions. One day I was having breakfast at 9:00 and the FBI showed up at the house I was renting. They knew that I had left Russia. They knew what we were doing, but they wanted details. I think they wanted to establish connections in order to somehow better control Telegram,” Durov said.
Because of this, and also after he was attacked by robbers in San Francisco, Durov refused to do business in the USA. In other countries - Germany, Britain and Singapore - he was put off by bureaucracy. Therefore, now the “Telegram” office is in Dubai.
- At the same time, the main pressure on Telegram is not from governments, but from Apple and Google.
“These two platforms can essentially censor everything you can read on your smartphone,” said Durov, who regularly criticizes these companies, as well as Facebook, for their “transparency” to intelligence agencies.
In this context, he stated that iPhone and Android phones are “not secure.”
At the same time, he welcomed the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk. According to Durov, this will have a positive impact on the social networking industry.
- Durov called allegations that Telegram is controlled by the Russian authorities the machinations of competitors.
He stated that Telegram is a neutral platform that can be used by everyone.
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Unrelated, but let’s stop calling Tucker Carlson a journalist. He literally let Putin speak uninterrupted for 10 minutes in his “interview”, said his account of Russian history was “sincere” although it wasn’t.
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Thank you for summary. Though as I see it, that’s nothing special there
I’m getting a bit tired of listening billionaire owners/CEOs of 1b users corporations (e.g. Telegram, Huawei, TikTok, Tencent, Bluesky…) complaining about Apple, Google, Facebook, US administration… products and polices, and then continue doing the same thing and keep making same crappy stuff. While on the other side, 10-people teams with no budget manage to make wonderful products and services. I could bet that all companies of all PG recommendations combined (maybe excluding Mozilla) have fewer people and less money than Telegram/Durov, and yet we have great operating systems (mobile, desktop, router), great productivity tools, great messaging services, etc.
There’s almost nothing positive in social networking industry (or web in general) in last 5 or 10 years. Sure, I might be active on mastodon, matrix channels or some good forums, but it’s not much different than it was 20 years ago, when I was active on IRC, DC (hubs) or good old forums. Basically, the main difference is that for the same thing, I now have to leave my phone number and use bloatware/spyware apps or crappy websites designed by 3yo. So thank you (Durov, Musk, Zuckerberg, whoever) for that
Almost every IM platform is neutral and can be used by everyone. Not to mention P2P or federated ones that can be even hosted by everyone 
Or even worse, those with E2EE where your private conversations actually remain private
Well, that would be news 30 years ago, it’s not worth reading it in article/interview from 3 days ago
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This is just free publicity, if he was serious about no backdoors he will implement zero knowledge end to end encryption on all chats to even remove the possibility of a breach
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The destruction of Twitter will be a positive impact on the social networking industry, so I’d have to agree 
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