Proton @lemmy.world testeronious @lemmy.world 3 mo. ago

Is WhatsApp safe for sending private photos?

proton.me Is WhatsApp safe for sending private photos? | Proton

Is WhatsApp safe for sending private photos? We go over everything you need to know before using this popular messaging app.

23 comments

WhatsApp uses the open-source Signal protocol

Why are people always saying this when we have absolutely no way to verify that that's true?
- Because they say they do and nobody's yet proven that they don't. But your point is of course valid: closed source security is nothing more than trust me bro.
  
  Apart from that I don't get why they make that argument. If that sounds good to you, use Signal.
- It should be provable they use the protocol. That's what goes over the wire and it can be observed.
  
  What's not provable is that there isn't a backdoor in the app that allows specific users to be targeted.
  
  Similarly, it's not provable that there isn't some client side scanning technology.
  
  Furthermore, it would be difficult to prove that Whatsapp doesn't send some data back to Meta for all users masked as part of some other network operation.
  
  I suspect any backdoor that happens for all users or regularly would've been detected, but that still doesn't mean it's safe.
Could taking a bath in burning gasoline be dangerous?
- If you submerge completely you'd be okay for a few seconds, as the fire is only on the surface.
  
  But then you'd be submerged in gasoline.
  
  Now I'm curious how long a bathtub full of gasoline would take to burn up completely.
They recommend telegram as a privacy friendly alternative to WhatsApp? Isn't this wrong? There is no E2EE by default or in groups...
- Don't rush the boomers, they barely gotten to know whatsapp and vaguely heard of telegram, you are scaring them with your funny words
I honestly wouldn't send private content over WhatsApp or telegram.

If the private photos you are talking about are of sexual nature I would advise against taking them in the first place. While the laws are improving around them to make distribution punishable( in some places ), you honestly can't tell what will happen once you send it.

People can take screenshots, save it, take a picture with a different device, .... Sure, some apps prevent it, but they can't block external devices.

Even if the receiver saves the picture in a personal cloud archive he can still get hacked and lose it. Or somebody finds them on his device that he sent in for repair.

If you do decide to send sexual private images. Make sure you're not identifiable ( face, tattoo, ... ). If itnxould be anyone and it leaks, it still sucks. But at least nobody really knows it is you.

I have no idea what software I'd use. But definitely not something owned by meta or Microsoft/google/Amazon. I have reasonable faith in signal. And I suppose running your own matrix server works. While you can't control what they do with it once received, you can at least be sure it's scrubbed off your server.

While the person you're sending them to totally wouldn't do it right now. Always assume people are petty and will do it once you get in a big argument. Or sometimes we all have bad judgement calls and people are assholes.

If the kind of photos you're talking about are non-sexual but just family photos and the like. I'd share the photos through a photo library. Like a photoprism you manage.

Note: I'm not judging. Just be careful who you send which pictures.
It's not. Use signal messenger or session messenger instead.
- Use a p2p messenger like briar. no servers in between and e2ee.
  
  Session is better because of the proxies
No. Signal is the only private messaging app.
- Not the only one.
  
  Threema is decent, too. Crypto is comparable, and allows signups without email or phone number. It's a paid app, though, but anonymous purchase options are available.
- Session? Session messenger?
  
  Actually session is great too 👍
- What about SinpleX Chat? Briar?

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