[HN Gopher] Session is shutting down in 90 days
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Session is shutting down in 90 days
        
       Author : balamatom
       Score  : 91 points
       Date   : 2026-04-09 12:51 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (getsession.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (getsession.org)
        
       | mhitza wrote:
       | Never heard of them, and this page doesn't tell me what they do,
       | but I've laughed at this line
       | 
       | > _In most markets_ Senior developers often command salaries
       | exceeding $150,000 USD per year
       | 
       | Not really, there's basically a single sub-market in the US
       | market where that is the norm.
        
         | w4yai wrote:
         | "Session is an end-to-end encrypted messenger that protects
         | your private data. A decentralized app designed, built, and
         | operated by a global community of privacy experts."
        
           | raverbashing wrote:
           | A collection of strongly opinionated crypto experts running
           | on hopes more than money is no way to run a government^W^W a
           | messaging app
        
         | ExpertAdvisor01 wrote:
         | They are based in Switzerland . 140k USD median dev salary
        
           | mhitza wrote:
           | Interesting claim, where do you gather that data? The quick
           | results I got where from a 2024 report on TheNextWeb claiming
           | its around 90k USD equivalent in Switzerland
           | https://thenextweb.com/news/european-cities-highest-
           | salaries...
        
             | ExpertAdvisor01 wrote:
             | https://swissdevjobs.ch/salaries
        
               | mhitza wrote:
               | Thanks for the data, 117500 CHF converted today is around
               | 148k USD, and that means being in the top 25%
        
               | ExpertAdvisor01 wrote:
               | It clearly says that the median is 110k CHF ~ 140k USD
        
             | Tade0 wrote:
             | Market rate for a senior engineer in much, much poorer
             | Poland exceeds 80k at current exchange rates - ask me how I
             | know.
             | 
             | I also had a contract in Switzerland for a brief, beautiful
             | moment and in 2020 it was not weird to have an hourly rate
             | exceeding 90CHF/h in this role.
             | 
             | Permanent employees were making anywhere in the range of
             | 100-130k CHF, so the 140k USD figure is close adjusted for
             | inflation.
        
           | xmattx wrote:
           | For a Senior perhaps. The figures I find for Switzerland are
           | more in the 90-120 range depending on the source. Also, I
           | think what OP was referring to is the 'most markets' bit.
           | Switzerland is the best paying country in Europe (discounting
           | London).
        
             | ExpertAdvisor01 wrote:
             | I wouldn't have replied if the session foundation hadn't
             | been based in Switzerland.
        
             | TeMPOraL wrote:
             | > _Switzerland is the best paying country in Europe
             | (discounting London)._
             | 
             | How does that look when you correct for costs of living,
             | because I imagine that would put London at the _bottom_ of
             | the list, as one of those places where senior-level tech
             | salary is not enough to afford living in the city itself
             | (and I don 't mean _the_ City of London, but the rest of it
             | too).
        
         | hibikir wrote:
         | Within the US, it's far more common than you think. That's
         | typical senior dev money in a large company in cities like St
         | Louis or KC. What is rare outside of the biggest markets is the
         | whole "enough RSUs to double your salary" thing.
        
         | kilroy123 wrote:
         | That salary is not unheard of at all in London. Especially when
         | you convert PS to $.
        
           | esskay wrote:
           | Sure but Londons known for being high wages. Now change that
           | location to Cornwall or the North of England and watch it get
           | almost cut in half.
        
             | roryirvine wrote:
             | Manchester is only about 10% below London, other cities
             | along the M62 are about 15% below according to the salary
             | benchmarking data I've seen. The bigger difference is more
             | in the number and type of available roles.
             | 
             | That salary would be above the median for most perm senior
             | dev positions in London, but still well within the usual
             | range for established tech companies and well-funded
             | startups.
        
           | zipy124 wrote:
           | not unheard of, but not typical.
        
         | efficax wrote:
         | the rare market is 250k+. You can get 150k in cleveland or
         | milwaukee
        
         | AugieDB wrote:
         | For a senior developer, $150,000 is about right. I'm looking at
         | the latest half dozen jobs I've seen on LinkedIn for open
         | senior developer positions and they all start at that number,
         | and range up to $185k to $200k. Digging a little deeper, I see
         | some th atstart well above that number, but it's for the huge
         | companies you're thinking of -- Google, Netflix, Github.
        
           | mhitza wrote:
           | The claim is that 150k is the baseline that is often
           | exceeded. I don't know the region you're looking for on
           | LinkedIn, but what I see for European jobs is that they
           | barely crack 100k for developers. At least the senior, non
           | highly specialist, jobs I'm seeing.
        
           | esskay wrote:
           | Time to broaden their hiring pool then, $150k is double the
           | cost of a senior developer in many other parts of the world
           | (yes including English speaking first world countries).
           | 
           | When you've got 90 days till the doors close you cant be
           | picky about your hiring pool.
        
             | Arnt wrote:
             | Read the posting. They dont have money for a team, they
             | don't have money for a senior developer. Whether $150k/FTE
             | or $75k doesn't matter, because they don't have either of
             | those.
             | 
             | Once the server and other costs have been paid, the have
             | money for... maybe a part-time junior in Cambodia.
        
         | dminvs wrote:
         | I'd consider this a lowball in Austin
        
           | superxpro12 wrote:
           | Whats the take-home after housing and expenses tho? It's the
           | same in CA... massive salaries, but also massive
           | taxes+housing expenses.
        
             | chipotle_coyote wrote:
             | At least in my experience, having worked in both Florida
             | and California, that's more of a wash than people imagine
             | it's going to be -- and more so than the "cost of living
             | calculators" tend to demonstrate, at least if you're a
             | renter.
             | 
             | I actually ran a few numbers based on current costs. If
             | you're making $120K/yr in Florida and paying the average
             | cost for a 1-bedroom rental in Tampa ($1,642/mo, as of
             | April 2026 according to Apartments.com), your after-tax
             | take home is $98 (24% federal tax bracket, no state tax)
             | and you have $78.4K after rent. If you're making $180K/yr
             | in California and paying the average cost for a 1-bedroom
             | rental in San Jose ($2,705/mo), your after-tax take home is
             | $130.5K (24% federal tax bracket, 9.3% CA state tax
             | bracket) and you have $98K left after housing.
             | 
             | You can keep fiddling with the numbers, but in _most_
             | cases, the premium for getting a tech job in Silicon Valley
             | is sufficiently high that you really are making more in
             | absolute dollars despite the higher cost of living.
        
               | dfadsadsf wrote:
               | That math breaks down if you have kids and need 4bdrm
               | house commutable distance to work in good school district
               | - prohibitively expensive in Bay Area and affordable on
               | engineer salary in most tier 2 cities. If you do not have
               | kids, Bay Area clearly wins, especially if you are ok
               | with studio/1bdrm.
        
         | KaiserPro wrote:
         | Yeah I'm not sure what they do, or why they need support
        
         | tadhglewis wrote:
         | Interestingly I applied for one of their senior frontend
         | positions that required a "high level of experience" in
         | Australia, they said 120k AUD with no room to go higher. Went
         | with an offer of 170k instead.
        
           | HWR_14 wrote:
           | Well, that aligns with both "total raise of 93k AUD" and "we
           | need more money to afford to hire senior people"
        
         | INTPenis wrote:
         | >Never heard of them
         | 
         | They're big on dark web drug markets.
        
         | horsawlarway wrote:
         | Nah, like others have said - 150k is fairly normal for senior
         | positions in _any_ decently sized metro in the US at this
         | point.
         | 
         | Even a decade ago, seniors could easily be pulling 120-150k in
         | markets like Houston/Atlanta/Miami/etc... The relatively cheap
         | markets.
         | 
         | I'm in Atlanta and I'd actually say 150k is a lowball offer for
         | a senior in this market at this point. I'd expect 175k+.
         | 
         | Now - the flip side of this is that current competition is
         | fairly insane with all the recent tech layoffs. So it's
         | possible we're seeing some market correction. But I don't
         | really think it's going to come down much. Between inflation
         | and rising costs... 150k just isn't what it used to be. If it
         | comes down... it's going to be because we're entering a real
         | depression.
         | 
         | ---
         | 
         | The amount of money the US government has printed in the last 7
         | years is... insane. And while it was starting to taper back
         | down in 2023 and early 2024... then we got the GOP, and the GOP
         | is objectively bad with money (not that the dems are that much
         | better...). So m1 supply is rising at a relatively steady rate
         | again.
         | 
         | We going to feel the consequences for a LONG time (or very,
         | very badly for a medium time... with unknown results).
        
       | oofbey wrote:
       | I like the idea. But I'm pretty happy with Signal. Signal does
       | require a phone number I think, but otherwise seems very similar.
       | 
       | Grounding identity in a phone number is very reasonable for
       | almost all normal usage. It makes recovery simple. It does block
       | the ultra paranoid use cases though. Oh well.
        
         | Nyr wrote:
         | Session is not similar to Signal.
         | 
         | Session aims to provide anonymity, Signal aims to provide
         | privacy.
        
         | bsaul wrote:
         | signal is really crappy. It fails at the most basic feature
         | which is : deliver the message on time.
        
           | bjord wrote:
           | does it? have you been trying to use signal while
           | disconnected from the internet?
        
             | oofbey wrote:
             | I had a friend who complained about this too. I never
             | understood it. She had a really cheap old android phone.
             | Maybe that's the issue?
        
               | bjord wrote:
               | I primarily use a nearly-bottom end android phone that's
               | a few years old and just recently switched to an even
               | older, even lower end android phone that is six years
               | old. Neither has that issue.
               | 
               | Obviously, I'm not really claiming that it's not possible
               | people are experiencing this issue, but it can't possibly
               | be widespread.
               | 
               | I feel like most likely people are using android skins
               | that aggressively kill apps in the background.
        
               | dalmo3 wrote:
               | I have that exact issue on a couple of not exactly low
               | end Samsung phones. Holding them side by side with signal
               | open. Delivery times vary wildly. Whereas WhatsApp just
               | works (though I hate it for other reasons)
        
         | Imustaskforhelp wrote:
         | > otherwise seems very similar.
         | 
         | It's worth mentioning that Session had started out as a fork of
         | signal.
        
         | 0xy wrote:
         | Signal's code quality is not conducive to security. They had an
         | extremely bad state management bug that resulted in photos
         | being sent to random contacts in your list (potentially life
         | ruining implications if you're sending private photos).
         | 
         | For this reason, it's hard to trust them. The encryption
         | quality is irrelevant if the slop coded client is blasting
         | random photos to random contacts.
        
           | alance wrote:
           | Source?
        
         | balamatom wrote:
         | >Grounding identity in a phone number is very reasonable for
         | almost all normal usage
         | 
         | In many jurisdictions, telecoms form an abusive oligopoly, and
         | you need to provide a state-issued identity document to get a
         | phone number.
         | 
         | That is not at all reasonable for normal usage - unlike well-
         | known non-abusive authentication methods, such as a keypair; or
         | its even simpler cousin, the username/password.
        
           | oofbey wrote:
           | I guess it depends on what you consider normal. Most of the
           | humans I know find it vastly easier to produce a state issued
           | id to an authority than to generate a public/private key
           | pair.
        
             | balamatom wrote:
             | What's easier: to obtain state ID, or to sign up to a
             | website with your preferred username and password?
        
               | oofbey wrote:
               | Obtaining your first id is obviously difficult. But so is
               | obtaining your first computer. If you're on good terms
               | with your government, obtaining the id is easier. That's
               | really the key. Sure if you focus on hostile states this
               | stuff all makes sense. If you're insistent on hiding from
               | authorities then many things become much more difficult,
               | by design.
        
               | vel0city wrote:
               | Well, I and a lot of the people I'm going to talk to
               | through things like Signal are going to have a state ID
               | regardless as I live in a country where one practically
               | needs to drive a car to function in society.
               | 
               | On top of that so many other things just inherently
               | expect one to have a phone number. It would be somewhat
               | odd to _not_ have a phone number for most of the people I
               | know and talk to through platforms like Signal.
               | 
               | So to your question of which is easier, having the state
               | ID and a phone number is easier because I'll already have
               | that for a multitude of reasons.
               | 
               | If you live in a place where its rare to have a phone
               | number, then yes I agree Signal probably isn't a good
               | choice.
        
         | thefounder wrote:
         | >> Grounding identity in a phone number is very reasonable for
         | almost all normal usage.
         | 
         | Yeah if you compare that with Facebook messenger and other such
         | services but if you want secure communication it's not
         | reasonable.
        
       | Archelaos wrote:
       | > In most markets Senior developers often command salaries
       | exceeding $150,000 USD per year
       | 
       | Why not outsource this to a cheaper country? For example, here in
       | Germany salaries are about half of that, and the talent pool is
       | excellent.
        
         | ramon156 wrote:
         | Id do it for 1/3rd!
        
           | rvz wrote:
           | Claude (or any other chatbot) can do it for 1/100th of the
           | cost and faster than anyone.
           | 
           | So $150k+ is overpriced.
        
             | mrhottakes wrote:
             | this is true, Claude and other LLMs are highly skilled at
             | producing secure code
        
             | SV_BubbleTime wrote:
             | Less Claudtistic apps, not more.
        
         | cl3misch wrote:
         | Afaik Germany is one of the most expensive countries for
         | employing white collar jobs?
         | 
         | The gross income to the employee might be 75k in Germany, but
         | the cost to the employer is roughly twice that amount in turn.
         | 
         | In my (very naive) mental model, US salaries are higher, have
         | less "overhead" for the employer, but leave more responsibility
         | (healthcare, retirement) to the employee.
        
           | ExpertAdvisor01 wrote:
           | Yeah , but the German pension system is unfortunately a scam
           | . Therefore everyone is responsible for their own retirement
           | (private investments e.g etfs) .
        
           | rvz wrote:
           | > In my (very naive) mental model, US salaries are higher,
           | have a lot less "overhead" for the employer, but leave more
           | responsibility (healthcare, retirement) to the employee.
           | 
           | Unfortunately this time, AI does not have vacations,
           | healthcare, retirement or bills to pay and is available 24/7,
           | 365 days on demand.
           | 
           | Many companies only see this as an opportunity to cut down on
           | employees in 2026 and Session will do the same.
           | 
           | So that is why to answer your question:
           | 
           | > ...Germany is one of the most expensive countries for
           | employing white collar jobs?
           | 
           | The main reason why the downsizing will continue until "AGI"
           | is achieved internally.
        
           | alcasa wrote:
           | Employer cost is not 2x, more like 1.2x, employer overhead is
           | mostly insurance related stuff. We had salaray to employer
           | cost tables at my previous job.
           | 
           | What true though is that after taxes you might just receive
           | 60% of your total salary once you deduct taxes and
           | insurances.
        
         | ExpertAdvisor01 wrote:
         | Add 30% on top of your salary to cover social contributions+
         | healthcare.
        
       | coldpie wrote:
       | I feel like a crazy person for having to write this, but: if you
       | are starting a business (yes, non-profits are businesses), then
       | _you need to have a business plan._ If you launch a business and
       | you have not done the work to have a business plan, then in
       | 99.999% of situations, your business will fail. A business plan
       | includes market  & competitive research, a revenue plan based on
       | that research that includes realistic pricing models and costs, a
       | marketing plan, and several options for when things don't turn
       | out like you planned. This isn't even Business 101, this is like
       | Remedial Intro to Business. If you don't have this worked out
       | before you launch, you have already failed.
       | 
       | The corollary for this is as a user, you should determine whether
       | or not the business you are planning to depend on _has a business
       | model_ before you choose to depend on them. If there is no
       | apparent income stream, then the business _will close_ at some
       | point and you may as well skip all the heartburn and choose not
       | to use that business for anything you care about. BlueSky, I 'm
       | looking at you right now.
        
         | jason_zig wrote:
         | I think this was their business plan. See if it works and, if
         | it doesn't, shut it down
        
           | xeromal wrote:
           | Is that a problem? Seems like a fair strategy. lol
        
         | oofbey wrote:
         | Privacy enthusiasts tend to align with anarchists - people who
         | intrinsically distrust institutions. Maybe this also correlates
         | with qualities like blind optimism, or disbelief in
         | institutions like capitalism?
        
           | malfist wrote:
           | > Privacy enthusiasts tend to align with anarchists
           | 
           | That's a mighty broad brush you're painting with over there.
        
           | gchamonlive wrote:
           | > Privacy enthusiasts tend to align with anarchists - people
           | who intrinsically distrust institutions
           | 
           | That's not a reasonable definition. The distrust in the
           | institution is actually a side effect of questioning the
           | authority for authority sake. Anarchists aren't a bunch of
           | individualists that want to burn down whatever we've got in
           | terms of mechanisms in the society regardless if they are
           | necessary. It's just the manifestation of the dialectical
           | opposite of the expression of power and authority.
           | 
           | And privacy enthusiasts just know very well that power shifts
           | and what once was a necessary mechanism can be abused by an
           | elected authoritarian leader.
        
           | Jimmc414 wrote:
           | What do anti privacy enthusiasts align with?
        
         | ToucanLoucan wrote:
         | > I feel like a crazy person for having to write this, but: if
         | you are starting a business (yes, non-profits are businesses),
         | then you need to have a business plan.
         | 
         | Not in tech you don't. The business plan these days is try and
         | get as much investment money as you can to redistribute to your
         | friends, have a few parties, hand out some Macbooks and try to
         | get acquired by Google before your runway runs out.
        
           | matwood wrote:
           | > The business plan these days is try and get as much
           | investment money
           | 
           | I know you're trying to be snarky, but this is itself a
           | business plan and will impact how the company is operated.
        
           | estimator7292 wrote:
           | Exactly. The explicit plan for many/most tech startups is to
           | raise VC money and get an exit before everything falls apart.
           | 
           | My last job was one of these. Everyone except the CEO and one
           | designer quit. The money was drying up, CEO spent all his
           | time chasing flashy big name customers who didn't want
           | anything to do with us while ignoring customers begging to
           | buy our product.
        
           | georgemcbay wrote:
           | > try to get acquired by Google before your runway runs out.
           | 
           | And on the user side, treat this outcome (company whose
           | product you use being acquired by Google) the same as the
           | company announcing it will go out of business within the next
           | year, because Google will almost certainly shut the service
           | down.
        
         | randomdrake wrote:
         | When I was in college, we were required to take a business
         | class (Business 101) that mandated a finished business plan as
         | part of the project.
         | 
         | It had to be long, in-depth, and include everything you
         | mentioned.
         | 
         | I was incredibly surprised when I entered the tech and startup
         | workforce that these were generally absent.
         | 
         | I had misunderstood the class and instructor and thought that
         | you couldn't even start a business without one.
         | 
         | Then, when I started raising money for my own venture, I
         | thought for sure a complete business plan was a prerequisite.
         | 
         | Nope. A few graphs, preferably hockey-shaped, and a good story
         | were all that was necessary.
         | 
         | My venture failed, of course. But if I were to do it again, I
         | would do myself the favor of having a complete plan. It would
         | definitely save a lot of headaches and guessing in the moment.
        
           | ecshafer wrote:
           | There is some great irony that you can have a flashy app with
           | good user growth, and get a chunk of cash from a vc firm. But
           | if you want to get a loan from a Bank to open a restaurant
           | you best have a business plan.
        
         | miki123211 wrote:
         | Slack (originally an MMO), Nintendo (card games), Nokia (rubber
         | shoes) and Netflix (DVDs over snail mail) would disagree.
         | 
         | "We'll gather a bunch of talented people together, figure out
         | what this industry needs and then do that, let's hope we can do
         | that before the money runs out" can be a viable business plan.
         | There's no guarantee it's going to work, there's never a
         | guarantee a plan is going to work, but it can work sometimes.
        
           | dpiers wrote:
           | You're neglecting the fact that each one of those businesses
           | had a plan, they just pivoted to more successful plans.
        
           | santadays wrote:
           | I believe NetFlix actually had a plan to stream movies from
           | the start (hence the name) and just did the DVD shipping as a
           | way to get started.
        
           | Jare wrote:
           | Plans are useless, but planning is essential. IIRC Nintendo
           | had been operating for decades before they shifted to
           | videogames. And Glitch (the MMO that gave birth to Slack) was
           | also very much a product with a plan. Plan failed, or
           | execution failed, or the industry shifted, or something else,
           | or all or the above. But for sure it was not just "a bunch of
           | talented people."
        
       | retrac98 wrote:
       | They don't say how they plan to avoid a repeat scenario a few
       | months down the line.
       | 
       | Donations are fine, but something needs to change or people are
       | just propping up a non-viable business.
        
       | cropcirclbureau wrote:
       | Surprised to hear this since my understanding was that Session
       | was run on a crypto coin based, user hosted onion routing
       | servers. Do they mean the dev company behind Session is shutting
       | down?
       | 
       | An anecdote I have: a friend once had narcotics shipped intl.
       | through Session a few years ago.
        
       | 833 wrote:
       | Not sure why it's always a binary: either give us $1M or we shut
       | down.
       | 
       | Vast majority of products and services can continue on or near
       | zero, with slow or zero velocity.
       | 
       | Really, you can't fire half the team if you have to and keep
       | operating?
       | 
       | 1.75M MAU requires very small infrastructure.
        
         | johnisgood wrote:
         | Yeah, there is no way they need $1M for the servers, come on...
        
           | miroljub wrote:
           | God forbid someone get paid for their work.
        
             | vntok wrote:
             | Paid is desirable. Overpaid, not so much.
        
               | Jimmc414 wrote:
               | $150k is overpaid for a senior engineer?
        
               | vntok wrote:
               | Depends on what "senior" means. Every company has its own
               | definition.
        
       | 0xy wrote:
       | I'd love to know where the $600k that Vitalik Buterin donated to
       | them 3 short months ago went. I don't think they've adequately
       | addressed this question.
        
         | bjord wrote:
         | seems like it was $300k (the total was split between simpleX
         | and session), but still--fair question
        
       | rvz wrote:
       | > In most markets Senior developers often command salaries
       | exceeding $150,000 USD per year, and on top of this there are
       | legal and operational overheads for running the STF.
       | 
       | Translation:
       | 
       | Our product makes no money, has no use case and we need $1M to
       | survive.
       | 
       | Two ways a PE "cost saver" would fix this:
       | 
       | 1. Claude + 1x senior engineer (in India).
       | 
       | 2. CTO + Claude and no senior engineers / employees.
       | 
       | Given we have (allegedly) achieved "AGI" (heavily disputed) they
       | don't need as many employees.
       | 
       | Especially those that are after $150k+ which when you can vibe
       | code with Claude for less than $10k anyway. /s
       | 
       | Job done.
        
         | mcherm wrote:
         | So you are suggesting that a private communications and
         | messaging system that proports to offer reliable anonymity is a
         | reasonable use case for more-or-less unsupervised development
         | by Claude? Because that is just the sort of use case where I
         | would NOT trust an unsupervised AI.
        
           | lowdude wrote:
           | That is probably the reason they added the /s at the end
        
       | walthamstow wrote:
       | Sad. I will need a new way to communicate with my guy.
        
         | roryirvine wrote:
         | Ha, and it was also used as a kind of low-rent/unmoderated
         | alternative to Onlyfans.
         | 
         | Certainly, there were enough people making money through it
         | that they should have been able to cover operating expenses.
         | How did they go about appealing for donations - was there a
         | notification inside the app, or did they rely on word of mouth?
        
           | blitzar wrote:
           | "Gas, grass or ass - nobody rides for free"
        
         | Cider9986 wrote:
         | https://simplex.chat is the best option.
        
       | bjord wrote:
       | I don't personally use it, but regardless, it'd be a shame to see
       | it go
        
       | RandomGerm4n wrote:
       | That's not really a big deal since the session encryption was
       | insecure anyway. It feels almost like a honeypot after they've
       | removed forward secrecy. If you're looking for a decentralized
       | alternative SimpleX Chat is a more secure option.
        
         | Jigsy wrote:
         | My issue with SimpleX is that the company is in the UK, and
         | it's developed in the UK under UK law.
         | https://simplex.chat/transparency/
         | 
         | Considering how fiercely anti-encryption the UK is/has become
         | (because "only child molesters care about encryption!"), this
         | is sadly reason enough for me not to trust it.
         | 
         | Do I believe they have a backdoor in their software? No.
         | 
         | But if the UK passes a law demanding they introduce one...
        
         | seanw444 wrote:
         | Or the mature and robust XMPP + OMEMO.
        
       | racuna wrote:
       | A few months ago, a Session update logged me out. I tried to log
       | back in, but my passphrase caused Session to crash. I tried the
       | Play Store version, the F-Droid version, and the desktop version.
       | 
       | Support told me that login method had been around for a while,
       | and I didn't know it. So suddenly, I was locked out and couldn't
       | access MY ACCOUNT. I used to promote Session, but since their
       | support response was basically a big "fuck you," I say "fuck you
       | too," and I hope people switch to SimpleX.
        
       | Ms-J wrote:
       | Session was Australian based which means they would have to do
       | all sorts of horrible things when asked by the government, such
       | as even letting police impersonate users...
       | 
       | I just checked and they claim to have moved their infra to
       | Switzerland.
       | 
       | There are many other issues, some I've forgotten about since I
       | would never trust it in the first place. They also require a
       | phone number even!
       | 
       | Seeing them go, I feel neutral. It's always good to have more
       | anonymity software, just not this for me.
        
         | its-summertime wrote:
         | https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/05/sessi...
         | they moved more than their infra
         | 
         | > They also require a phone number even!
         | 
         | "You don't need a mobile number or an email to make an account
         | with Session." - https://getsession.org/faq#identity-protection
        
         | Youden wrote:
         | No legal mechanism with such breadth exists in Australia. There
         | was a great deal of overblown media reporting but the law [0]
         | makes it explicitly clear that any request that requires a
         | "systemic weakness", "systemic vulnerability" or anything of
         | the like is null and void. Those terms are defined [1]. Note
         | that it doesn't say the government can't request such a thing,
         | it says that such a request "has no effect". It's simply dead
         | on arrival.
         | 
         | My understanding is that the government could compel Facebook
         | to publish a version of WhatsApp with a special mode that sends
         | all messages to the police if the user ID is 1234567. This
         | introduces a vulnerability but it is limited to one specific
         | person. If your user ID is not 1234567, you're completely
         | unaffected.
         | 
         | However my understanding is that the government cannot compel
         | Facebook to compel a version of WhatsApp that, when it receives
         | a special message, silently starts sending plaintext copies of
         | every other message it receives to the police. Such a mechanism
         | would be a systematic weakness that affects people other than
         | those for which a warrant has been issued, so the notice would
         | "have no effect".
         | 
         | The government could also not compel a source-available app
         | with verifiable builds to stop distributing them so that it can
         | add a secret user ID branch like the one I mentioned above for
         | WhatsApp.
         | 
         | [0]:
         | https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ta199...
         | 
         | [1]:
         | https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ta199...
        
       | neuroelectron wrote:
       | I could never get it to work and I've tried several times. I kind
       | of get the feeling I'm being blocked at the ISP level. We entered
       | an era of the Internet where you're just not allowed to create
       | secure communications.
        
       | OutOfHere wrote:
       | They should keep a single competent and curious senior developer
       | who can do it all. In this age of AI, you can make do without
       | having a whole team of developers.
        
       | gamegod wrote:
       | If you need decentralized messaging and not some cryptocoin
       | front, Delta Chat (https://delta.chat/) is what you're looking
       | for.
        
       | maerF0x0 wrote:
       | I had never heard of this, why session over signal?
       | 
       | Edit: here is a snippet from google AI:                  Signal
       | is a secure, user-friendly WhatsApp alternative requiring a phone
       | number, while Session prioritizes maximum anonymity with no phone
       | number, onion routing, and a decentralized network
        
       | INTPenis wrote:
       | This is extortion.
       | 
       | They're hoping one of the rich dark web drug lords that use the
       | app will sponsor them with crypto.
        
       | jasonkester wrote:
       | My advice: If you want people to give you money so that you don't
       | have to shut down, and you're writing a ten paragraph plea for
       | donations, consider using one of those paragraphs to tell people
       | what your thing is.
       | 
       | If we knew what it was, we might want to help.
        
         | egypturnash wrote:
         | Their logo _actually links to their front page_ for once so it
         | 's not too hard to find out that Session is "The decentralized
         | private messaging app", even if you're on a touchscreen. No
         | need to fuss around and figure out how to get from
         | "session.blogplace.org" to "getsession.com" by editing raw URLs
         | like I feel happens with half the posts like this.
         | 
         | It could still use a paragraph or two of "why we believe it's
         | important for this particular decentralized private messaging
         | app to exist when there are about six hundred other
         | decentralized private messaging apps out there that nobody but
         | people who care passionately about decentralization are using",
         | though.
         | 
         | (This is not a question that I feel their FAQ addresses,
         | either: https://getsession.org/faq)
        
       | PinkSheep wrote:
       | > 65000 USD in donations > enough for infrastructure for the next
       | 90 days
       | 
       | 20k per month in infrastructure. Excuse me, what?
        
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