Luckily for many (and unfortunately for others) we are living in a time where it is increasingly important to protect the information we share. We are in the era of Wikileaks and Snowden, and while some of the most used services such as Facebook, or those offered by Google, continue to undermine the privacy of users, others have emerged to protect our data or our communication with friends and family.
Mega Chat as a replacement for Google Hangout
Despite the alleged bankruptcy of Kim Dotcom, Mega It is still an excellent service and it is being used more and more, although as far as I understand, it is not OpenSource, so there can always be some risk. But if before we could upload and download our files safely, now we can talk with our friends, family or clients, without any concern (apparently).
mega-chat It is a good replacement for Google Hangout, but for now, you can only make calls and video calls, and to prove it, the first thing we have to do is add the email address of the person we want to talk to.
Once this is done we can establish communication by calling our contact.
It is good to clarify that this service is in beta phase and is in a different url than the one we have used so far. To access the usual mega service we do it at https://mega.co.nz, to access the new service is https://mega.nz.
Telegram as a replacement for WhatsApp
Whatsapp It doesn't need an introduction, but it went from being a cool service to being a paid service and to top it off, it wasn't available on all platforms.
Now it turns out that the Internet is revolutionized because WhatsApp launches its online service, so we can access from our computer with GNU / Linux, but yes, following the trend of many other services and websites, only from Google Chrome, therefore: fuck you !!
But hey! Telegram not only has more options than WhatsApp, but it is cross-platform and also has a versión web to access from the browser.
The client for GNU / Linux is improving and not only that, apparently Telegram will give official support to Ubuntu. Therefore, the options are served, it is only up to us to promote them so that the rest of the people who only believe that Facebook, Hangout, WhatsApp, etc. exist, find out.
Collaboration: Award
There is also the Hello from Firefox 🙂
talky.io with webrtc too
I was lazy to sign up for another service with WebRTC and that's why I opted for Firefox Hello.
It has never worked for me!
In my case, Firefox Hello has worked wonders for me with Iceweasel. The problem is that surely the chat protocol for video chat communications is also restricted by the ISP you have.
Telegram, for me, has a serious drawback: there is no client for Symbian S60v3, when there is for WhatsApp, Line and Skype, for example.
In order to propose an open, compatible, secure, stable, decentralized and easily expandable messaging service, why not Jabber / XMPP?
But from my understanding you can create clients without problems because that part of the code is open. You just have to look for some Symbian developers to do that. If they have not released it, it is because there is no demand in that area, it seems to me.
XMPP is not very functional because it is not based on the phone book, which is something that everyone has. And the Telegram web interface I have not tested from the Symbian browser but in theory it should work. Anyway, I would not spend a tenth of time on the operating system that in 2016 will no longer have official support of any kind.
Why doesn't anyone who knows how to program do this? 1.- Server with list of mobile phones associated with xmpp account in non-accessible database, 2.- an xmpp client that asks the user if he has an xmpp account and if he does not have one, create it in a couple of steps on a jabber server (list of several) that the user chooses without asking more (creates account number tlf @ server) (so far what any jabber client does) and send to the centralized server (1) the MOBILE-XMPP account pair. 3.- The client sends a list of mobiles to look for on the server (1) and his own mobile. 4.- The server replies with an SMS to the mobile that asks with a random password. 5.- The client program reads the SMS password and sends the password to the Server. 6.- Once the Server receives the password, it allows the client program to access the ACCOUNTS associated with the list of mobiles.
If anything, add a third field on the server about the mobile owner's preference so that other people can add it automatically or not. Thus, privacy would be given an option, leaving it up to that user to add their contacts one by one (the ones they want) by giving them their corresponding XMPP account. Give the customer the possibility of adding a contact through the XMPP account simply, behind the server (1). Therefore the server (1) is simply a link to facilitate the expansion of the service automatically from the users' agenda.
Completely agree, I am on the same channel and for a long time recommending telegram to my acquaintances. And with your article more options
You forgot to say that Telegram can be used from pidgin on Linux! For me that is the advantage that it beats any other service.
In my case, that Telegram works for the computer is more than enough, so you don't spend it with the mobile up and down xD
Telegram has secure chats (really) and you can also send ANY file (not just images -low resolution- or videos -a worse resolution-)
They also self-destruct in a certain time and well chosen by the user. Which is perfect for impossible missions.
True, but end-to-end encryption is not active by default. With the current WhatsApp encryption, the one developed by Open Whisper Systems, yes. In addition, Telegram still does not publish the code of the software that its servers use, so it is not so clear what they do with our conversations. WhatsApp also uses closed software, but Open Whisper Systems encryption is locally, it is decri, on the device, and when it reaches the WhatsApp servers our messages have already been encrypted with a key that only resides on our device, ergo nobody except the recipient of the message can decrypt them.
So no matter how much it bothers us, the truth is that today, WhatsApp uses a more secure and reliable encryption than Telegram, because it encrypts all conversations locally, not just the ones we keep activating an option to start a «secure chat », As in Telegram. All this assuming that the WhatsApp application really does what it says and does not copy our conversations before being encrypted and sends that unencrypted copy to their servers or you know, that is the great danger of closed source software, that no one except the manufacturer really know what it does.
Total, that WhatsApp being totally closed, Telegram being half closed, we can't really trust either of them.
Apart from this, the truth is that Telegram is much better: you send what you want and without the quality of the photos fucking you, you close and log in when and where you want, you allow who you want to see your status, contact by contact … It is a pity that it seems that there can never be the perfect application: what one has, another does not have and vice versa. Telegram has the best functions, but the best security, I repeat, assuming that WhatsApp really works as they say, WhatsApp has.
The best program in this sense, for the mobile phone, since at the moment I think there is no client for computers (I suppose that due to the low number of users, since being totally free software there would be no impediment) is without a doubt the application itself from Open Whisper Systems: TextSecure ( https://whispersystems.org/blog/the-new-textsecure/ ) but if few people already use Telegram, how many use TextSecure? Of course, I don't have a single one of my contacts who uses it. : - /
Greetings.
Excellent. Now he publishes a post related to TextSecure (I will already publish a post related to a real case in which the shortcomings of WhatsApp are exposed to the detriment of the cell phone owner).
I use textsecure but it really is to send sms, which come unencrypted except when the other also uses textsecure. In other words, safety and comfort going hand in hand for once.
Long live Telegram!
In F-Droid and Prism Break they are not so in agreement:
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=telegram&fdid=org.telegram.messenger
https://github.com/nylira/prism-break/pull/717
I suppose it is less bad than WhatsApp since the application is at least free, but it continues to store our telephone numbers and those of our contacts, and its servers use closed software, so we cannot trust either. : - /
The only acceptably reliable option is TextSecure (whispersystems.org/blog/the-new-textsecure/) and Chatsecure (guardianproject.info/apps/chatsecure), but do you know anyone who uses TextSecure? I do not. And ChatSecure, because with any messaging account based on XMPP (Autistici, Openmailbox, Google, Facebook, GMX, Jabber, etc.) it would work, ergo also from any device, not only mobile, but also, how many people, compared to the one who uses WhatsApp, do you use the chat of any of these other providers? Because when I say that almost all privacy-friendly email providers like Autistici.org, Openmailbox.org, and other commercials like GMX.es, Gmail and others incorporate XMPP chat service simply with their email accounts they look at me as if speak Chinese so they don't even know they can chat using their Gmail account without needing Hangouts.
It's a shame, really. : - /
PS: Shit ... this log platform says I'm writing spam. Since when are references and sources spam? What a breaker you, really!
The implementation that gmail is using of XMPP is horrible, the messages only reach you if you are connected to the jabber client, but you never find out that they sent you a message ... until you do hangouts
But are there really any XMPP clients up to the task? I mean, it makes it easy to send and forward photos and videos as well as text, and makes it easy to find contacts from your phonebook. I have already given in another message a centralized way to do it, but with a search function by mobile number, distributed servers could be made (that the centralized list is not mobile but servers to search).
Prism Break propose to ChatSecure as a client friendly for those who love XMPP / Jabber servers.
Guillermo, I suppose you mean mobile applications, since you have KTP or Pidgin for desktop, among others. I no longer use XMPP for the simple reason that NOBODY, and I'm not exaggerating, none of my contacts use it, but for a while I convinced my girlfriend to use it among ourselves, and for mobile we used Chatsecure:
https://guardianproject.info/apps/chatsecure/
Files were shared and sent exactly the same as on WhatsApp and co. Take a look, if you are interested.
eliotime3000. Yes, I have used it for a while and it works without problems. The problem is that hardly anyone uses XMPP. I uninstalled Chatsecure because I was only using it to chat with my girlfriend until WhatsApp adopted the Openwhispersystems encryption, which they say is one of the most secure, if not the most, out there today, and then we went back to WhatsApp for practical reasons. A shame, but having a program to chat with one person and having to switch to "guasap" when you want to talk to another person, or participate in a group, or send files to several people, it was a waste of time; and time is life, so with all the pain in the world I had to say goodbye to XMPP. If XMPP had been promoted from the beginning as a substitute for SMS and not as an aspiring rival to WhatsApp when it was already beginning to dominate, perhaps things would be different, but in these things, whoever arrives first becomes king. : - /
As I add someone, I want to see how it works 🙂
If you have someone on the agenda who uses it, it appears automatically, as well as the guasap, but either they have to pass you the phone number or the nickname
If you mean mega, I think you occupy his mail c:
Well telegram ok, but megaChat has not released its code, it is one more alternative but it is not yet reliable for me.
Telegram is great, I love it! But I don't have contacts (only four), that's why I don't use it. Everyone I know uses WhatsApp and they do not plan to change, because it serves them, a shame.
I made it simple when fb bought the guasap I uninstalled it, from that moment the one who wanted to contact me had to do it by sms, mail or Telegram, in the end almost all the contacts with whom I speak frequently ended up installing Telegram
Well, my contacts, if I don't use whats app, they use Facebook and if I don't use Facebook, they will send me an email and if they don't use email, to the maximum xD they send me an SMS that in most mobile companies, they are free
I do like you: Warrinap? No kidding. Who really wants to contact me, and not to say nonsense every 5 minutes, does it by LINE, Hangouts, Telegram or SMS. All good alternatives with many more functionalities. But in Spain what prevails is technological ignorance and sheepishness, so how many Warrinap users can name other instant messaging clients for you? … Try and see (LINE doesn't count, hahaha).
Well, that already requires social engineering and not programming
there is also jitsi which is open source and native to gnu / linux
the packages for android are dead, the latest version is almost a year old and is not stable
It is not native, rather let's say that thanks to JAVA it can be run on Linux. 😀
Tested on openSUSE 13.1 + Samsung Galaxy Note 4 + Samsung Galaxy S5 + Samsung Galaxy S3 (root CyanogenMod)… so far everything works as described.
Friend, you have money left over Do you have a Note 4 and an S5? Mother of god xd
Two great alternatives for two great super known, in Spain they use more telegram and I congratulate them for that in addition to being more accessible to send files, in the case of mega chat, I am not a fan of hangout for that, I better use Skype XD.
Jumping from a closed silo (WhatsApp and Hangouts) to another closed silo (Telegram and MegaChat) is not funny. In that case it is preferable to jump to open networks such as Jabber and SIP.
I'm missing firefox hello, I've been testing it and it's excellent! I even made calls to a tablet with firefox installed and it worked very well 🙂
I think it is the one with the most future, especially because it does not need registration. just pass a link and voila ...
Tox gentlemen, Tox: https://tox.im/es
At the moment Tox for Android is discontinued
LONG LIVE RUSSIA !!!!!!
A little strange that in other post they praise themselves and go crazy for goole and in others I know of free alternatives but I praise the proposal and hopefully see more free alternatives to google and less praise to this company that is equal to or worse than microsoft
The problem with Telegram is that it is not used by as many people as WhatsApp. In my circle of friends and acquaintances, everyone uses WhatsApp, so if I wanted to go to Telegram it would be an inconvenience since none of them use it.
Still, I can't convince anyone to go telegram because no one uses it!
The folks at KTP are developing a plugin for Telegram, not to mention the official client that has been around for some time for Linux. But anyway, the fact that their servers continue to run closed code throws me back, especially when WhatsApp has everyone and recently they have finally implemented secure encryption, in fact the safest that exists, they say, and totally open. source: https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/
The problem is that the encryption protocol can be as open as we want but if the communications protocol is not, we will still not be able to have "the joke" on the desktop until Facebook wants it.
It is a shame that people have not found out that XMPP with OTR encryption can be used on mobile phones since before WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, Spotbros, etc. existed. If this had been the case today we would not depend on these companies and with any desktop clients we could have conversations with mobile phones.
By the way, the company that develops the protocol that now uses the joke to encrypt also has messaging and voice conversation applications, but they are not used by God. It's a shame: https://whispersystems.org/#privacy
What I've been saying for years: we should all use XMPP, with the client that each one likes the most, but all compatible and with the same protocol.
But no: first, MSN Messenger, and now all WA. ó_ò
6 years ago I registered on Facebook so it was new to me, and over the years my acquaintances have been adding me throughout this time, and if it weren't because I linked my contacts from MSN to Facebook in time, was already incommunicado.
If Diaspora * facilitates that process on his system for all pods, then he would really be the one to really unseat Facebook (beating Ello is more than enough).
Those of Telegram have promised to release the code of the Server part once they have stabilized it. At least that comes out as official data on the program page.
Telegram also offers a prize of 200 thousand dollars to whoever manages to decrypt a secure conversation. I would like to see if those on whatsapp risk such a test.
Those of WhatsApp do not need it, since it is relatively simple (already the blog of "A computer scientist on the side of evil" has shown how vulnerable it is using at the end of programs that make exploits).
And as if that were not enough, until now I am still waiting if they dedicate to patch the tremendous bug that the same blogger has taken the juice.
Exact! They take a supposed advantage and it is more of the same. whatsapp is the worst. I'll stick with Telegram which, I'm sure, will eventually release the code for the server part.
"It is not OpenSource, so there can always be some risk"
For example, we do not know what they do with our conversations or our contacts. The conversations, if they really come out of our device encrypted, it would not be very worrying, but that every time we add a contact their data goes to some file type "big data", it is not so cool. And of course, the problem is that since it is not open source, we don't really know what the whole thing is doing. In fact it could be that they are not even using the encryption that it claims to use, and that for example it uses a sloppy one that is easy to break by digital marketing agencies, espionage, or by Mega itself.
Anyway, the difference is that we have to trust Mega because we have no human way of knowing if its software really does what it says; of open source alternatives, we just have to verify that it is true that their code does what they say because the code is there for everyone to see (or trust people who check it, if we do not know programming, of course, since being many more people from different parts of the world, as it is difficult that they are all "bought" to deceive the general public).
Anyway, it must be said that since Google, Dropbox, Box, and all that gang spy on me, but I want to make a leap of faith and trust more of Mega and its irresistible 50 GB free. Overall, there is nothing important to upload to the cloud, so to upload songs, gossip photos of the "joke", videos, a movie and such, I hardly even care if they comply with their statements about the importance of privacy. Another topic would be conversations, but since WhatsApp has switched to Openwhispersystems encryption, and that it will soon offer encrypted voice conversations, because in the end it will turn out that WhatsApp is going to be the most secure communications application. Who was going to say it.
Personally, I still use Google Hangouts due to the fact that it allows me to make group video calls, something that very few tools offer.
Greetings!.