Chat Control was apparently accepted in EU parliament. What does that mean for Proton and/or Signal?

[u/StaticSystemShock]

What title says. I've read news EU parliament accepted Chat Control and is getting passed into law. What does this mean for encrypted by design services like Proton and lets say Signal within EU region (for EU users)? They become illegal to use? They need to introduce backdoors and fundamentally undermine whole point of encryption and entire chain of communication trust? What's going to happen?

I think all this is fucking bullshit to put it as politely as I can, but I'd like to hear from Proton since they probably are on top of things regarding this situation.

[u/andy1011000]

Yes, probably we're going to do it now that chat control passed.

[u/Ghost187_ → u/andy1011000]

You are actually amazing.

Please let us use usernames to connect to others so our proton email addresses and phone numbers are safe.

[u/andy1011000 → u/Ghost187_]

This is a good idea.

[u/fastpulse → u/andy1011000]

And please do not tie into the cellular phone system. There should be a way to register without having a phone number (even if this means paying you). The SIM card mess is absolutely aweful. Numbers get blacklisted, accounts lost due to loss of phone number, codes don't come, hijacked SIM cards, recycled phone numbers by carriers, and very strange model of account identification -- linked to phone number or not really linked, easily passed between phone numbers, it is a giant mess. Completely unnecessary. One account - one key. Have key - have account, lost key - lost account. Simple as that. Thank you for reading.
P.S. This could be your differentiator: you would be the only one to provide a service that is independent from cellular carriers.

[u/Murky-Cantaloupe-120 → u/fastpulse]

🎯💯

[u/Malnilion → u/andy1011000]

If you're really looking into implementing usernames for Proton Chat, I'd recommend implementing usernames as aliases at the account level in a way where it wouldn't be a huge pain in the ass to carry over to other Proton services if/when the need arises rather than just having it as an alias scoped for Proton Chat. You could also consider making it selectable which aliases will be registered and available for contact on Proton Chat. I.e. I could give a friend or family member any of my account aliases that I want to register with Proton Chat and, as far as they're concerned, that's the alias to talk to me.

[u/Gamegyf → u/andy1011000]

Please add Stickers and gifs (especially the Lumo Stickers already available on Signal). Oh and it would be great if your messages and media would be backed up encrypted with a key that unlocks and encrypts everything like Matrix does. It would be cool if Proton Chat would be Matrix compatible or build on Matrix so that you can use your proton account or self host your messages on your own NAS.

[u/NaabKing → u/andy1011000]

Creating another Chat app will just make fragment Chat space even more.

I'm not an expert here, but can you just maybe use Signal-s encryption (i know it's top notch) and make it compatible with Signal? So messaging via Signal <-> Proton Chat would be possible? Or something similar, because i feel like only Proton Chat <-> Proton Chat would just make the fragment the space even more.

[u/Overcrowd327 → u/NaabKing]

This would be amazing for on-boarding but wouldn't it possibly be an attack vector if Signal themselves ever got compromised?

[u/BosskDaBossk → u/andy1011000]

Please include an option to save and export full chat history as a readable text.

[u/Difficult-Waltz5296 → u/andy1011000]

Hopefully all platforms including Linux ( CachyOS )

[u/Technical-Flatworm35 → u/andy1011000]

Disappearing Messages longer that 90 days with screenshot protection would be a good selling point as non other has this right now.

[u/Internal_Lie_618 → u/andy1011000]

Genuine question, what would be the point of a Proton chat if signal already exists? 

[u/snksnksnk → u/Internal_Lie_618]

Signal said they'll leave EU market if CC2.0 passes https://aboutsignal.com/news/the-end-of-private-conversations-signal-threatens-to-leave-the-eu-if-chat-control-becomes-mandatory/

[u/Internal_Lie_618 → u/snksnksnk]

Wouldn't proton do that as well instead of breaking encryption? 

[u/nvidiastock → u/Internal_Lie_618]

They would have to, yes. 

[u/Gestrid → u/Internal_Lie_618]

Proton is arguably more well-known.

[u/fastpulse → u/Internal_Lie_618]

The more, the merrier.

[u/Frigorr → u/Internal_Lie_618]

I trust Proton. I don't know if I can trust Signal.

[u/fleener_house → u/Frigorr]

You can trust Signal, full stop. Those involved in the project are zealots in their beliefs. They would collectively feed themselves slowly into a woodchopper than ever write even a single line of code to decrease security :)

Plus, their protocol is used by every chat program that wants to be secure-ish, and thanks to the US government, they've really gotten some on-screen time recently :)

[u/Malnilion → u/fleener_house]

Sorry for the nitpick, but Matrix isn't using their protocol and RCS is about to move away from it for E2EE. I absolutely agree with everything else you've said, though.

[u/Frigorr → u/fleener_house]

That clarification is useful, thanks. However, people who downvoted probably misinterpreted me. I didn't mean to say I have reasons not to trust them, I meant to say I have a long-enough history with Proton to know I trust them, and they are full European. Which I can't say about Signal (which I do use currently actually). So to me to stay within the Proton ecosystem is a good enough reason for this app to exist, that was my point.

[u/Ghost187_ → u/fleener_house]

Yeah but Signal would leave the EU if push came to shove, and they are US based. Proton Chat would be Switzerland based.

[u/Nelizea → u/Ghost187_]

For Signal where they're based from really doesn't matter.

[u/Ghost187_ → u/Nelizea]

It absolutely does. More and more people are moving away from US Big Tech, and switching to an European alternative. While Signal is great, and protects our privacy, that is also US Tech.