https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/kt91qk/signal_private_messenger_team_here_we_support_an/ Press J to jump to the feed. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts [ ] Log InSign Up User account menu Signal Private Messenger team here, we support an app used by everyone from Elon to the Hong Kong protestors to our Grandpa's weekly group chat, AMA! [renderTimi] Privacy Close 206602 Posted by4 hours ago Ternion All-PowerfulHelpful2Wholesome2Silver4Hugz3Party Train Signal Private Messenger team here, we support an app used by everyone from Elon to the Hong Kong protestors to our Grandpa's weekly group chat, AMA! [renderTimi] Privacy Hi everyone, We are currently having a record level of downloads for the Signal app around the world. Between WhatsApp announcing they would be sharing everything with the Facebook mothership and the Apple privacy labels that allowed people to compare us to other popular messengers, it seems like many people are interested in private communication. Some quick facts about us: we are an open-sourced nonprofit organization whose mission is to bring private and secure communication to anyone and everyone. One of the reasons we opted for organizing as a nonprofit is that it aligned with our want to create a business model for a technology that wasn't predicated on the need for personal data in any way. As an organization we work very hard to not know anything about you all. There aren't analytics in the app, we use end to end encryption for everything from your messages and calls/video as well as all your metadata so we have no idea who you talk to or what you talk about. We are very excited for all the interest and support, but are even more excited to hear from you all. We are online now and answering questions for at least the next 3 hours (in between a whole bunch of work stuff). If you are coming to this outside of the time-window don't worry please still leave a question, we will come back on Monday to answer more. -Jun Edit: Thank you to everyone for the questions and comments, we always learn a tremendous amount and value the feedback greatly. We are going to go back to work now but will continue to monitor and check in periodically and then will do another pass on Monday. 215512 comments share save hide report 97% Upvoted Log in or sign up to leave a commentLog InSign Up Sort by best View discussions in 4 other communities [renderTimi] level 1 3 hours ago Signal is super promising right now but so was WhatsApp before being bought by Facebook. What public reassurance can you give that says Signal wont be another sellout? 117 Reply share ReportSave level 2 Original Poster3 hours ago Great question! We've done two things to make sure that is the case. First, we've designed the app from the ground up to not know anything about anything. Unlike other apps, we don't have access to your contacts, your groups, your messages, your images, your searches, etc. So we don't have access to any of your data to begin with, even if we wanted to do something with it (which we don't). Second, we've structured the project as a non-profit entity, so it can never be bought, has no investors, and isn't "owned" by anyone. We did this because we wanted to be "for" something other than profit, and we wanted to make sure the organization was only incentivized to create something that is in the best interest of the people who depend on it. 162 Reply share ReportSave Continue this thread level 2 3 hours ago That signal is Open Source-Check the source code here. https:// github.com/signalapp 15 Reply share ReportSave Continue this thread level 2 3 hours ago It is also a non-profit foundation, so it cannot be bought by a Facebook, Google, Apple etc. 12 Reply share ReportSave level 2 2 hours ago Signal is a non-profit and it cannot be bought by a for-profit i think 2 Reply share ReportSave level 2 3 hours ago It's open source, so anyone can copy it and launch a new version if Facebook buys the current signal app and ruins it 2 Reply share ReportSave Continue this thread level 1 3 hours ago Is there any plans to make user ID system, so that we can add friends without knowing the phone numbers? 64 Reply share ReportSave level 2 Original Poster2 hours ago StarrySilver Yeah, we're working on it! 114 Reply share ReportSave Continue this thread level 2 2 hours ago For me security-wise this is one of the most important features. Mobile communication has a number of huge security flaws and I don't feel comfortable having it as the only mean of authorisation and authentication. 12 Reply share ReportSave level 2 2 hours ago You can enable group links and send them by email for others to join. You can control who should be allowed to invite others as well. 1 Reply share ReportSave level 1 3 hours ago Been solely using Signal for over 5 years now (back when it was called TextSecure). Just wanted to say I'm a big fan and happy with all the improvements throughout the years. It's been quite the journey. Any chance of hiring people outside of the US? Us Canadians would love to be able to help out :) 43 Reply share ReportSave level 2 Original Poster2 hours ago Thanks! We try to keep the team within "US timezones" so that we can stay in sync. Just noticed that the jobs page says "US only," we'll get that fixed - thanks! Canadians are definitely welcome to apply. 53 Reply share ReportSave level 1 3 hours ago As a question: how do you fund the application? With the increase of users will you struggle/need more funding? Will we see an ad model in the future such as telegram aims to implement. 30 Reply share ReportSave level 2 Original Poster2 hours ago Unlike a lot of other technology projects, Signal is structured as a non-profit. We're supported directly by users like you, similar to organizations like Wikipedia. You can donate here: https://signal.org /donate/ We will never sell ads, and we've designed Signal to not know anything about anything (including no trackers or analytics), so we couldn't target ads even if we wanted to (which we don't). 57 Reply share ReportSave Continue this thread level 2 3 hours ago I donate every month a couple of $ and set my Amazon smile to Signal's foundation. It's not much but it's honest work. 22 Reply share ReportSave Continue this thread level 2 3 hours ago Hopefully the $100 million loan at 0% interest that is not due for 50 years will keep their lights on for awhile. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Foundation 19 Reply share ReportSave Continue this thread level 2 3 hours ago They are funded by a grants, donations from users and lately a $100mn gift to the foundation. 3 Reply share ReportSave View Entire Discussion (574 Comments) More posts from the technology community Continue browsing in r/technology Subreddit Icon r/technology Subreddit dedicated to the news and discussions about the creation and use of technology and its surrounding issues. 10.1m Members 38.4k Online --------------------------------------------------------------------- Created Jan 25, 2008 Join helpReddit AppReddit coinsReddit premiumReddit gifts aboutcareerspressadvertiseblogTermsContent policyPrivacy policyMod policy Reddit Inc (c) 2021. 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