| "Wait, but if telephony is regulated then so is our DNS system." What do you mean by "our"? There is nothing that "forces" anyone to use ICANN DNS. (There is certainly coercion and peer pressure to follow along, but as a technical matter anyone can break free at anytime. It is just a matter of changing some defaults and running some software yourself.) People use ICANN DNS for one of the following reasons 1. because they do understand the technical details such as changing defaults and running a local authoritative server serving a root.zone file, 2. because their business relies on ICANN DNS somehow or 3. "because that is what everyone else is using" or some similar belief where any variance from status quo is per se failure. The encryption that Signal uses is not likely to be broken. Because Marlinspike did not write it. The protocol is a different matter. Uncertainties abound. The author of the encryption is not the author of the protocol and if I recall the author of the encryption questioned why the distribution of the software has to be controlled by one company. (Answer: It doesn't.) Signal is a classic example of some software (in this case written in Java) whose adoption on its own merits the author has deemed "inadequate" and so the author attaches it to some very widely adopted platform or other widely adopted software. This results in instant mass adoption.FN1 It is like entering into a distribution agreement. Challenging this decision with respect to Signal results in mundane philosophical arguments about "user experience". The beautiful thing about the encryption that Signal uses is that it is not attached to any particular software or platform. It gains adoption on it own merits, not by making a deal with a company like WhatsApp/Facebook. Anyone can write software with the same encryption that Signal uses, and it does not have to be entwined with a protocol controlled by Facebook. FN1. Another recent thread mentioned how web browser authors partner with popular software such as "CCleaner" to silently install their browser along with "CCleaner". As a result, every user who installs "CCleaner" also installs Chrome (and maybe some other malware). Parasitic software distribution.
When it comes time to boast about browser "market share", the method of distribution, the presence or absence of conscious choice by the user, is not reported. |