this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2023
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France bans ministers from WhatsApp, Signal; demands French alternatives. (www.politico.eu)
submitted 11 months ago by pylapp@programming.dev to c/privacy@programming.dev
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After the Tchap project based on Matrix, the French Prime Minister asks anyone in the gouvernement to use Olvid, the only app validated by the ANSSI, with metadata encryption and no centralised architecture nor contacts discovery. But only the front-ends are open source, not the back-end.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/france-requires-ministers-to-swap-whatsapp-signal-for-french-alternatives/

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[–] lysdexic@programming.dev 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

To start Europe should have secure phones made in EU.

Doesn't switching instant messaging services count as a start? Switching hardware is far harder than switching software.

Also, local messaging systems also determine where your traffic goes and who controls that data. If you have a french messaging service with data centers in france routing traffic between people in France, you are in a far better shape.

[–] gnygnygny@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

When Real-Time Bidding allows foreign states and non-state actors to obtain compromising sensitive personal data about key European personnel and leaders to get location data, time-stamps, websites and apps activities; switching to a local messaging service appears to be a weak patch. You can get an overview of the actual situation here : https://www.iccl.ie/digital-data/europes-hidden-security-crisis/

[–] lysdexic@programming.dev 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

appears to be a weak patch.

It's not a patch. It's eliminating an attack vector, and the one which is more pervasive and easier to exploit.

Security-minded people pay far more attention to what software you run than what hardware you have.

[–] gnygnygny@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

You didn't read the article apparently.