147 karma · joined October 9, 2015
Yes, they do upload your contact list, but I believe there's a prompt at setup time that allows you to opt out? It might even be an OS-level prompt to the tune of "Signal would like to access your Contacts". Not 100% sure on that one as I haven't set up a brand new Signal installation in years.
It's done to help their user acquisition. It uploads your contacts to match against other contact lists and let you know who's on Signal. I recall seeing a blog post explaining how they are doing it in a fully encrypted way, possibly using Secure Enclave (? though I think the 2021 version of that would probably involve ZK proofs/homomorphic encryption of some kind, and I hope they put some time into that).
I don't recall ever having to set a PIN specifically for that. And besides, a 4-6 digit PIN would be a terribly insecure way to "encrypt" anything server-side :) But yes, that would be a shame if it were the case.
The PIN is a security option that prevents a SIM-swapping attacker from registering a new device under your phone number unless they know the PIN. You can opt out of it (and it might be opt-in to begin with). You can also easily opt out of PIN reminders. Both of these options are in Settings -> Account.
As for server state - my understanding is that Signal attempts to be zero-knowledge overall, but they definitely store some state on the server. I believe it's encrypted using your private key that's not backed up to the server. Setting the PIN does not change that.
Server state comment aside, it seems your main complaint is about a pop-up PIN entry UI that can be opted out of? I get that it might seem annoying, but it feels like a fairly weak criticism of a messaging platform, certainly not one that should warrant an impression that Signal is "on the way out"?
* Work/personal separation
* Multiple AWS accounts
Also, I am very impressed with how well they're integrated into Firefox. For example, opening a link in a new tab will preserve the container. CMD+Shift+T will restore a recently closed tab and remember its original container. I really like the color coding too.
Mazda punches far above its price in terms of driving dynamics and interior quality, but I think their infotainment system is plain garbage and they should be absolutely ashamed of such poor quality.
Note that the author is Tom Wheeler - former chairman of the FCC. It does seem to be a 100% political piece rather than anything to do with the tech.
I'd imagine that you would want to look for evidence of a double spend as that's the most likely goal of a 51% attack. But then the blockchain must have up-to-date knowledge of likely double spend targets (such as exchanges, OTC desks, etc), and be able to algorithmically and deterministically prove malicious intent with high certainty. Only then will you be able to maintain consensus and prevent unnecessary or accidental forks.
But since this is all open-source anyway, it would only be a matter of time before a slightly more sophisticated attacker read through the updated consensus algorithm and figured out how to game it. And so the cycle continues.
In truth, the only real strategy for mitigating attacks in PoW blockchains is hash power. It has proven to be very effective if you have enough of it (see BTC), and looking for other 51% resistance measures isn't really that productive unless you start from the ground up and rebuild the consensus mechanism on a different paradigm (e.g. PoS, which is still unproven afaik).
I think having something like Steam is great primarily for discovery and ratings.
On top of it, you will find that they cut costs on some of the less obvious things. For example, one day we found that their vRacks are not redundant, so a failure in one of them caused hours of downtime of our intranet.
As far as customer support - our account manager was always very helpful and understanding.