this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2023
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France bans ministers from WhatsApp, Signal; demands French alternatives. (www.politico.eu)
submitted 11 months ago by pylapp@programming.dev to c/privacy@programming.dev
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After the Tchap project based on Matrix, the French Prime Minister asks anyone in the gouvernement to use Olvid, the only app validated by the ANSSI, with metadata encryption and no centralised architecture nor contacts discovery. But only the front-ends are open source, not the back-end.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/france-requires-ministers-to-swap-whatsapp-signal-for-french-alternatives/

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[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

A far better reason not to use WhatsApp is that it is run by Facebook. It was also a primary vector for Pegasus.

[–] lysdexic@programming.dev 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

A far better reason not to use WhatsApp is that it is run by Facebook. It was also a primary vector for Pegasus.

Aren't you doubling down on the government of France's position?

I mean, the french minister did explicitly stated that "[you] cannot guarantee the security of conversations and information shared via them".

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

For WhatsApp, sure. For Signal, no.

[–] lysdexic@programming.dev 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

For Signal, no.

There is an argument to make about using custom versions of Signal that route their traffic through your own infrastructure.

This would count as France running their own service.

Given that Signal relies on centralized servers to route traffic, and if I'm not mistaken they use AWS in US instances, this means that your Signal traffic is being fed straight into the US security services' infrastructure. France might be a staunch ally of the US, but they do go through great lengths to preserve their independence.

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

Sure, I'd be the last person to say that Signal is perfect and secure. But it's a damn sight more secure than WhatsApp.