[HN Gopher] Bridge WhatsApp with Matrix (and Signal, Telegram, i...
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Bridge WhatsApp with Matrix (and Signal, Telegram, iMessage,
Mattermost, etc.)
Author : niutech
Score : 41 points
Date : 2021-01-10 15:32 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (matrix.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (matrix.org)
| 29083011397778 wrote:
| A point to note for anyone intending on switching: the whatsapp
| bridge does not (yet) support voice or video calls. It's
| understandable, as it can't be done through the Whatsapp Web
| interface, but it's still a deal-breaker for me.
| Closi wrote:
| Wow, what a nightmare.
|
| Every time I hear people on HN talk about Matrix as a potential
| alternative to WhatsApp I always think "I'll try that" then I
| look at it for about 20 seconds before deciding it's just not
| worth it.
| niutech wrote:
| Could you elaborate why? Have you tried Matterbridge
| (https://github.com/42wim/matterbridge) instead?
| Closi wrote:
| Take that page for example - I've got no idea what on earth
| it is after reading the first few pages (I mean I do, but
| with a consumer hat on I don't).
|
| I mean it says it's supposed to be simple, but then moves on
| to a load of command line arguments and something about an
| API and then suggests I build it from source.
|
| I mean clearly they have a different idea on what simple
| means! This isn't consumer level software yet.
| niutech wrote:
| You can get rid of Whatsapp by bridging it with other secure
| messaging apps (like Signal, Telegram, iMessage, Mattermost)
| using Android VM and Matrix bridges: https://matrix.org/bridges/
|
| Alternatively, you can use Matterbridge:
| https://ibcomputing.com/setting-up-whatsapp-telegram-bridge-...
| spockz wrote:
| Doesn't this still open you up for profiling by
| WhatsApp/Facebook on the WhatsApp edges of your communication?
| niutech wrote:
| No, because you'll be using a disposable SIM card only for
| WhatsApp installed in the Android Virtual Machine. Facebook
| won't have access to your own smartphone and your activity.
| [deleted]
| acct776 wrote:
| But...all of your contacts stopped talking to one number,
| and started talking to the new burner number.
|
| They know it's you.
| mike-cardwell wrote:
| Every single one of your friends will add a contact to
| their phone, with 1: The new phone number, 2: Your real
| life name. They'll then go and share that contact list
| with a dozen different apps, including Facebook and
| Whatsapp. Some of them will add your email address,
| birthday, and home address to that contact as well.
| niutech wrote:
| Facebook cannot know it, since it is another phone no.
| not used anywhere else. The point of using another SIM
| card in Android VM is that Whatsapp doesn't have access
| to your Facebook profile, your web activity, your real
| phone no., real location, MAC address of your primary
| smartphone etc. Meanwhile you can use
| Signal/Telegram/iMessage to chat with your Whatsapp
| contacts.
| t-writescode wrote:
| It takes something like calling 3 phone numbers to
| uniquely identify the owner of a phone number.
|
| Connecting to several of your old friends is more than
| enough to identify someone with an incredibly high level
| of confidence.
|
| (Example list of people: someone at your job or a friend,
| another friend, your mother.)
| niutech wrote:
| Possibly, but it's still better than using Whatsapp as
| before.
| acct776 wrote:
| It's a half measure technical solution to a political
| problem.
|
| Obscure, please, in all seriousness - but fund the EFF,
| and vote for people who support data privacy vocally.
| yokaze wrote:
| I think the point is that the burner number only gives
| you a weak pseudonymity. Your contacts and your
| communication profile (how often are you talking with
| whom) is still visible and it seems not unlikely that it
| can be matched to the one in Facebook purely by that.
| fsflover wrote:
| > Facebook cannot know it, since it is another phone no.
| not used anywhere else.
|
| They just compare the set of friends with whom you spoke
| using your original number and with whom this new number
| speaks now. Otherwise you are right.
| mycall wrote:
| Would they really do this? Lots of people have multiple
| phones anyways.
| nashashmi wrote:
| Yes. They really would do this.
|
| They use a probability factor to identify similarity with
| other users. If the similarities match high, they
| internally identify it as a probable identical profile.
|
| But for this to happen successfully, they would have to
| use the first profile that didn't agree to new terms and
| compare it to new profile that did agree to new terms.
|
| Btw, somewhere in Facebook land they are trying to
| workaround this hack. Which means FTC should be all over
| this.
| abdullahkhalids wrote:
| How long before Facebook/WhatsApp blocks your account because you
| are using an unauthorized way to access chats?
| niutech wrote:
| As long as the underlying Go-Whatsapp
| (https://github.com/Rhymen/go-whatsapp) protocol implementation
| is byte-for-byte identical to the original Whatsapp Web client
| protocol, it should be indistinguishable.
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(page generated 2021-01-10 23:02 UTC)