Mustafa Al-Bassam <[email protected]> writes: >So yesterday a very user-friendly mobile application called "Confide" >was released that claims to be "your off-the-record messenger"[1]. It >has been getting a ton of press attention recently and has raised $1.9m >in seed funding[2]. > >It claims "with end-to-end encryption and disappearing messages, Confide >is bringing off-the-record conversations online". > >What do people think of this?
FWIW, Confide was already on my list of apps that make promises that (by definition) they can't keep: http://www.rants.org/2013/06/09/privacy-promises-and-client-side-betrayal/ There is no such thing as guaranteed self-deleting messages, no-screenshot messages, etc. These are promises that no app can make, because underneath every app is an operating system that the app doesn't control. If the operating system decides to save the message, or take the screenshot, there is nothing the app can do about it. This isn't about open source vs closed source. It's about the fundamental nature of running software on top of other software. I wish that app makers wouldn't promise otherwise, but apparently there's a lot of money to be made spreading this particular myth. -Karl -- Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at [email protected].
