Re: [Tails-dev] Session messenger on Tails

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Author: gagz
Date:  
To: A-Malik via Tails-dev
Subject: Re: [Tails-dev] Session messenger on Tails
hello,

FWIW, Session uses the loki network (aka lokinet) which itself depends
on a blockchain system and on folks spending money to run nodes. In this
regard i think Session should not even be mentionned when listing Signal
alternatives.

On SimpleX, I also think it's a technically great project and might
become really great, but there are some things that don't make it
trustable yet: the miscommunication (aka lies) of the devs regarding
what PII are touched (ie they say "no identifiers at all" which is
crazily wrong).

I'm trying to keep a list with many sources here, and i still think
Signal is the least worse we have:
- https://md.lqdn.fr/s/9tEgRhfkL#

This is a really nice writeup on why it's complicated to make a proper
signal alternative:
> https://soatok.blog/2024/07/31/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-signal-competitor/



cheers




A-Malik via Tails-dev:
> Session has a third party debian repository, which isn't in the main debian repository which goes against including it. The main issue with Session in tails is if you were to install it and try to use it it would not work. Session (possibly Lokinet also) doesn't allow or work with connecting to it through a proxy first either with torsocks or a transparent proxy like on whonix.
>
> Issues related:
>> https://github.com/oxen-io/session-desktop/issues/1139
>> https://github.com/oxen-io/session-desktop/issues/1520
>> https://github.com/oxen-io/session-desktop/issues/2657
>> https://github.com/oxen-io/session-desktop/issues/2764
>> https://github.com/oxen-io/session-desktop/issues/1557
>
>>> sajolida mentioned:
>> - Wire is the strongest alternative to Signal because it solves the
>>    problem of having to register with a phone number for the users who
>>    really cannot afford it, but Wire as sustainability issues.

>
> I have never tried this one but out of the best privacy and decentralized messengers the two best are XMPP and SimpleX in my opinion.
>
> I think SimpleX should be looked at being added if they ever get it in main Debian repository. I have tried it on Tails and works fine and also supports onion addresses and torsocks natively.
>
>> - SimpleX
>> https://simplex.chat/
>
> Sincerely,
> Andrea Malik 😁
>
> Sent with Proton Mail secure email.
>
> On Wednesday, December 4th, 2024 at 01:36, sajolida <sajolida@???> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> No, we don't have plans to incorporate Session in Tails.
>>
>> In 2023, I interviewed 14 activists and journalists who use Tails to
>> understand better their needs in terms of communication tools.
>>
>> Several messaging tools were mentioned as useful. Session was not
>> mentioned by anyone. Here is the summary of my findings on which
>> messaging apps to support:
>>
>> - Signal is the most important app because it is the golden standard for
>> journalists and activists worldwide. Having to register with a phone
>> number is the main issue with Signal, but it's not a blocker for most
>> users.
>>
>> Update: this has changed with Signal rolling our user name:
>>
>> https://signal.org/blog/phone-number-privacy-usernames/
>>
>> - Wire is the strongest alternative to Signal because it solves the
>> problem of having to register with a phone number for the users who
>> really cannot afford it, but Wire as sustainability issues.
>>
>> - Telegram is more useful to our antipersonas than to our personas and
>> could be dangerous for our users in its default configuration.
>>
>> - WhatsApp would be useful for human rights defenders who support people
>> in the Global South who only have low-end phones or need to keep a low
>> profile.
>>
>> - XMPP Nobody that we interviewed really uses Pidgin, the XMPP client
>> included in Tails. Replacing Dino with Pidgin would provide better
>> usability for diehard XMPP users, but is not a viable alternative to
>> Wire and would break backward compatibility with the OTR encryption of
>> Pidgin (that's replaced by more modern OMEMO encryption in Dino).
>>
>> We might work on this in 2025:
>>
>> https://gitlab.tails.boum.org/tails/tails/-/issues/14567
>>
>> scott.jw--- via Tails-dev:
>>
>>> Hi
>>>
>>> Is there any plans to incorporate the session messenger into Tails?
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Scott Simmons
>>> ---------------------
>>> Securely sent with Tutanota. Claim your encrypted mailbox today!
>>> https://tutanota.com
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>>
>>
>> --
>> sajolida
>> The Tor Project — UX Designer
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