Hello fellow c/privacy members.
I’m not new to privacy related things but I had a hard time persuading my family members and friends to switch to Matrix/Element. It is a reponse to UK’s Online Security Bill and Investigative Powers Act that may soon in effect.
While it is just a preperation and planning in case those actually became law, I already face resistance from them. When I ask them would they switch, their first reaction is “Why one more app?” then follows with “That’s cumbersome.” or “I don’t want to learn a new app.” and suggest something more popular like Line, Telegram or Discord. Sometimes they would “Install WhatsApp because X is on there and he/she won’t install one more app just for you.”
What can I do to persuade them to use a new platform? Thanks in advance.
EDIT: I think I should elebroate more of what Online Security Bill and Investigative Powers Act does[1]. As far as I understand, OSB will break E2EE by require scanning data on client device, like CSAM but much more generic. IPA requires companies to submit security funcition to the government for approval before releasing, and disable such feature upon request. Apple[2], Single[3] and WhatsApp made the announancment of exiting the UK market totally or partically if two were signed into law.
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/thenextweb.com/news/uk-investigatory-powers-act-default-surveillance-devices-privacy
[2] https://web.archive.org/web/www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2023/07/21/apple-threatens-to-pull-facetime-and-imessage-from-the-uk
[3] https://web.archive.org/web/20230809125823/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-65301510#2023-08-09T12:57:48+00:00
Look, I once got everyone I know to switch to matrix (Riot, before element) and they depracated the client, made everyone redo their encryption keys, it was a huge mess. Nobody will ever listen to me ever again about a messaging app because of what new vector did with riot.
Matrix is too janky for people. Use something else. Simplex, signal, whatever.
Beyond that, the key is breaking this “one more app” mentality. Why is it so hard to have an app on your phone? These people would install the Starbucks app for a single free milkshake in a heartbeat. This expectation that everyone and everything can be done in one app is absurd, and it’s marketing by the big companies to lock people in when there’s no reason for it. your phone runs apps. What’s the big deal?
And that starts with you. make yourself available on multiple different messengers as possible. Don’t say “I use matrix”, youre being inflexible. Use everything that doesn’t collect your contacts and spy on you. Use telegram, but tell people telegram isn’t encrypted. I personally have matrix, XMPP, session, signal, simplex, telegram, and I even have a discord but I never use it. I fall back to email if I have to. Be flexible if you expect others to be, be available to communicate with in as many ways as you can privately to incentivize people to switch, give them options and let them pick.
This is the gist of it, yes. Setting up a Matrix account has several steps (e.g. backups, identity server, discovery) that are each complicated enough on their own to be deal-breakers for the vast majority of users. It’s just a non-starter for anyone who’s not a techie. It’s been around for many years but still has an absolutely terrible UX.
I wouldn’t dare to recommend it to anyone I know because I do not have the patience to walk them through it and explain it. It would cost me time, energy, and most importantly it would cost me social trust. Nobody would take me seriously anymore if I recommended something that is so user-unfriendly.
Signal is a pretty easy sell, on the other hand. It’s simple, it’s secure, and it works like any other messaging client. It’s not 800 steps to set up backups and discovery. I would prefer to use a decentralized platform, but I’m not investing into Matrix because IMHO, it has no future in the mainstream. I have a Matrix account but I don’t use it talk to anyone I know IRL, and I doubt I ever will.
Signal is only easier because it entirely ignores logging in on multiple devices. Maybe for some it is ok, but for me this is a huge dealbreaker, not an advantage.
If you dont set up key backups (an optional feature), its the same thing: with Signal, if you delete the app or lose your phone, all your messages are gone, along with your contacts that werent saved in your phone contacts and uploaded to a cloud service. If you use Matrix as you do with Signal, it works the same: you delete it, messages are gone. This is the default. But, you have the option to keep your messages.
Identity server? You dont have to use that, and I don’t either. You are not obliged to set up being discovered by outside identifiers. Like I don’t want people to find me by my phone number, as I don’t want to use my phone number, for anything, at all, and so I didn’t do that.
I see that on Signal, you always find people by their phone number, which you are required to hand in. On Matrix, you find people either by their handles (~username), or their phone number or email address if they have handed those in, voluntarily.
So with an indentity server you can make yourself discoverable by your phone number, and you must use one if you want that.
But I think there is a better solution (on the long term, at least): to forget about phone numbers altogether, when possible. Why would this be feasible? It is possible to store the handle in your phones contacts, with the standard “instant messenger” field. Contacts then are usually sharable in messaging apps, or with a QR code, and a lot of software generally understands this format, so you could use this to make your handle known.
By the way, identity servers and discovery is the same step, not 2 different one.
Perhaps this varies by server, or perhaps it’s changed since I signed up. When I signed up, I connected an identity server and then needed to go through a few extra steps to enable discovery by email address and phone number. IIRC my identity server did not support phone numbers at the time.
I greatly prefer service-specific usernames over phone numbers, and that’s a huge point in favor of Matrix. And I agree, Signal is ass-backwards when it comes to multiple devices.
Ok, now seeing what you mean, yes it may be thought of as 2 steps, because you really need to choose a server (or accept the default recommendation of your HS) and then add your info there, but mentally I just think of it as 1, because to me it feels like a single unit.
Ok, now seeing what you mean, yes it may be thought of as 2 steps, because you really need to choose a server (or accept the default recommendation of your HS) and then add your info there, but mentally I just think of it as 1, because to me it feels like a single unit.
I have Matrix, Session, Singal, Telegram, and Discord. Telegram is saldomly used and Discord is just subscribed to a bunch of game communities. Signal is threatened by OSB and IPA, which announced by them that they will get out of the UK market if those are in effect. Then left Matrix and Session, both not used by anyone.
I would like to be flexible but the reality is there are not much choices. Only XMPP which I don’t have, nor natively supports E2EE which varied by clients.
Look into JMP.CHAT. it’s XMPP, with a phone number that is gatewayed to PBX for voice, and can send/receive SMS.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’m more surprise of it providing a phone number rather than XMPP.
From what I understand, many large tech companies will leave UK if those laws are passed. I highly doubt it will happen, and if it does, I bet it will take about five seconds for the government to realize how vastly they fucked up.