This is different though. PP is saying that you require a phone number to sign up, and phone numbers are being used to match your account to your user name.
"Signal does not send your phone number to anyone unless you have enabled that others can see it and then you send them a message or make a call to them."
Neither of these are the issue, the issue is the required association of a phone number with a Signal account. You cannot register a Signal account without a phone number.
It's something you'd want to avoid if your life, liberty or well-being are at risk if you're de-anonymized.
Signal, like most services, block text verification services, free texting apps, etc.
e-SIM wise, depending on where you are, that might require identifying yourself, and depending on your threat model, having to purchase one in person or with payment info that can be traced back to you might be too risky. Same thing when it comes to using one in a device you own, or in a location that can help de-anonymize you.
In the end, Signal does this because they know the ban hammer would come down hard on them from the Justice Department and every state AG and legislature if Signal allowed bad actors to anonymously use their app and network to commit crimes.
The issue is that there are plenty of people who are not doing heinous things whose security and anonymity might be at risk because of the measure put in place to placate governments.
You're confusing privacy with security. Phone numbers are a privacy problem and NOT a security problem.
Think of it this way. There's a vault that's locked with secrets inside, but the door is transparent. This does not prevent privacy. But the vault provides security.
Signal is not a transparent door, but is opaque. You can't see inside the vault. But the phone number reveals that you have access to the vault. This is very different than a security problem. Anyone connecting the two can see that you have a vault (security)[0], but they cannot see inside (privacy) or even when you access it (privacy).
There is no security issue with phone numbers.
[0] or can see that at some point in time you had a vault or someone that previously had that number had a vault
If your number is seized then the new account holder has no chat history. i.e. the vault is cleared out. In that situation you will also be kicked out, clearly telling you that your account has been hijacked.
The privacy loss is "phone number has registered a signal account"
It does not
- conclude the user has or even has a signal account
- who that person is talking to
- what that person is talking about
- when those texts or messages are sent or received
What can you infer here that becomes a security risk? I guess if signal is outlawed before you have installed or your number was ever associated with an account? But it still have plausible deniability there
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/6712070553754-P...
"Signal does not send your phone number to anyone unless you have enabled that others can see it and then you send them a message or make a call to them."
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007061452-Do...