Signal versus Telegram after that whole encryption scare last week

I tested both for a month with the same group of friends. Signal handles metadata way better, they don't store who talks to who. Telegram got caught letting law enforcement grab user IPs and phone numbers from their servers. One service is open source and audited, the other runs closed code with a big marketing budget. It is not even close if you actually care about who sees your messages. Anyone else run into people insisting Telegram is just as private just because it has secret chats?

4 comments

4 Comments

shane_park923mo ago

idk maybe i'm missing something but if Telegram's whole thing is being secure, why are they giving out IPs and phone numbers to cops? doesn't that kinda defeat the purpose of the secret chats if the rest of it is wide open?

brianreed3mo ago

dude, you hit the nail on the head. "wide open" is exactly right. feels like they're selling us a bulletproof car but the back door doesn't even have a lock.

jamie_adams3mo ago

Depends how paranoid you are I guess. Signal's definitely the safer bet if you're actually worried about metadata but most people just want their group chats to work and not leak.

west.casey1mo ago

@shane_park92 pretty much nailed why I stick with Signal for anything that actually matters. In my experience, the whole "private by default" approach matters way more than having bells and whistles that don't hold up under scrutiny. Your mileage may vary, but if you're picking a messenger because of security promises, start with how they handle the stuff they don't advertise.