this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2026
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Granted, the part

The globally recommended app by privacy and security experts, Signal, is now being downloaded massively and tops the Danish Google Play Store

is a little ironic, but you gotta push this winning tide and then work from that.

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[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You can't really make e2ee messaging illegal, at least it is impossible to enforce with decentralized open-source messengers.

It is much more likely that the US will mess with Signal, than that you will stop being able to use an e2ee messenger like XMPP, which is just as secure as Signal regarding the e2e encryption.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The issue is that it's already pretty hard to convince people to use something easy like Signal, most people just don't care enough for something "complicated" like XMPP-based messengers, especially if mainstream app stores had to stop letting EU-based users install messengers with these features.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Well, yes. But when it comes to digital independence Signal isn't better than WhatsApp. At least recommend something like Threema if you think the much better alternatives are too hard.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 15 points 1 day ago

Except Meta fully owns the WhatsApp metadata, and frankly Signal is a lot more trustworthy about its e2e implementation being actually, in practice, secure.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

at least it is impossible to enforce with decentralized open-source messengers.

All you need is a central registry where licensed messengers register their e2ee connections. Then network providers only have to report all ip addresses with connections that are not on that list.

Impossible with VPNs, but politicians have already announced their desire to make them illegal.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What? You are not making much sense. What is a "e2ee connection"?

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

An encrypted connection between two endpoints.That's required for "decentralized open-source messengers".

Currently it's impossible to prevent because of all the encrypted video calls of the Meta messengers and similar connections between endpoints.

If those video streams are marked then it is known which endpoints use software that evades surveillance.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I am not sure you understand what you are talking about. There is no easy way to distingish between different connections and pretty much all internet traffic is encrypted these days.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My argument is that a central registry, where all controlled software registers their connections, is all that is needed to identify the connections that are outside the control of the surveillance state.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

How would you register all connections of the internet?

[–] plyth@feddit.org 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Only e2e connections have to be registered.

If every human has 10 e2e connections per hour, that's 80G connections. If that requires 10k bytes for communication that would be 800T bytes per hour, 250G byte per second. That should be possible.

Use the routers of the exchange points to track the connections. Let them report any connection that hasn't received a validation from the registry.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Again, what is a "e2e connection"? There is no such thing and it is nearly impossible to distingish a e2e encrypted data stream inside a TLS connection from regular TLS encrypted connection.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Again, what is a β€œe2e connection”?

It is a connection between network Endpoints. The connection that is e2e Encrypted.

impossible to distingish a e2e encrypted data stream inside a TLS connection from regular TLS encrypted connection.

IP ranges show which IP belongs to a server in a data center and which is an endpoint.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes, but how do you distinguish between two identical TLS connections? You can't and hence you can't figure out if the content inside is additionally e2e encrypted. So what you are suggesting just doesn't work technically.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The registry tells me if a connection is from an app that uses encryption that I can break. Everything else is suspect, needs investigation and after an introduction time, will be forbidden. Routers can easily discard everything that is not approved by the registry.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

How? You have two arbitrary computers exchanging TCP packets. There is no way to tell any difference.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

As I wrote before, trustworthy apps register their connection at the registry.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You are not making sense. You can register as many apps as you want, if there is no way to distinguish non-registered app traffic from regular internet traffic.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

There is no need to distinguish the traffic. IP adresses and ports identify the streams.

The app creates a connection and registers both IPs and ports at the registry.

Then the app starts sending data.

The first router at an internet exchange point asks the registry if the IPs and ports are registered. If they are, the packets are delivered, if not they are dropped.

That way no unregistered app can exchange data.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So you are saying the entire internet needs to be shut down?

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

All websites keep working. All commercial apps will be adjusted and keep working. At first users just receive warnings and all apps keep working.

The internet won't shut down when finally the packets are dropped. Only democracy will die, silently.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Look, this discussion is going nowhere, as you clearly have no idea how the internet actually functions. If websites keep working you can continue sending e2e encrypted messages from an unregistered app. Please educate yourself first and then you will realize how nonsensical your idea is.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If websites keep working you can continue sending e2e encrypted messages from an unregistered app.

You can also send e2ee messages with Whatsapp if you copy and paste them. At some point, encryption of messages doesn't help because it's suspicious enough that further investigations are triggered.

Of course you can create a secret messenger service hidden on a regular website. But it's either unknown which makes it useless, or popular which will attract an investigation.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No, any normal easy to use federated XMPP app will work with built in e2ee. There is no real difference between an app communicating with a server and a browser communicating with a webserver, and for an outside observer there is no easy way to tell them apart.

Please educate yourself better about this topic. You make yourself look really stupid 🀷

Oh and WhatApp is already e2ee.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The problem is

The EU is likely to make e2e messaging illegal before the USA cuts access.

So everything on a server must be accessable and all regular messengers with e2ee must have a backdoor.

So the only possibility for secure communications are direct connections that no server can scan with AI.

Shut that down, too, and no community bigger than a couple of people can communicate unsupervised.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago

The EU can try to make it illegal, but as I said, there is no way to enforce such a law and no real way to prevent decentralized e2ee messengers from continuing to work.

So really what you are saying makes little sense.