Privacy Matters
Elon Musk slams Facebook, promotes Signal app instead
Elon Musk slamed Facebook over its latest privacy policy updates for its supposedly secure encrypted messaging app WhatsApp. Musk instead recommended users choose encrypted messaging app Signal. Signal has a history of fighting any entity that asks for your data.
Signal's main function is that it can send text, video, audio and picture messages protected by end-to-end encryption, after verifying your phone number and letting you independently verify other Signal users identity. You can also use it to make voice and video calls, either one-to-one or with a group.
The term, end-to-end encryption is simple: Unlike normal SMS messaging apps, it garbles up your messages before sending them, and only ungarbles them for the verified recipient. This stops people who are not suppose to read your texts from reading them. When it comes to privacy it's hard to beat Signal because it does not store your user data.
For years, the core privacy challenge for Signal lay not in its technology but in its wider adoption. Sending an encrypted Signal message is great, but if your recipient isn't using Signal, then your privacy may be nil. Think of it like the herd immunity created by vaccines, but for your messaging privacy.