I know Whatsapp several tenants of privacy, but outside of North America, everybody has Whatsapp. We need to unify to spread the message of Signal as an alternative, not SimpleX.
Anyways, I’ve noticed a pattern as I do have Whatsapp, when I get random texts that looks suspicious, I use the app “Open In WhatsApp” and enter the phone number from the text to start a chat in Whatsapp, and 99% of the time it says that phone number is not registered for Whatsapp, thereby showing it is most likely spam. Of course that is not 100% of the case, as some people don’t use Whatsapp, some businesses do use Whatsapp, but it can be a safe bet if the text number is not on Whatspp, it’s very very likely spam and best to block without replying
I saw a post on here months of someone posted their reply to a text that said something like “Hi, my name is Sharon, who will you most likely vote for in the next election?” with a list of options. and they boastfully got suckered to take the bait and fell into the trap. By replying, they showed it was a live and valid number to now sell their phone number to other spammers. Never ever reply to a random message until you can guarantee who that came from.
Don’t know if we should impose Signal as an alternative and forget SimpleX, in fact SimpleX is better in many other ways than Signal, the only problems are early dev problems…
That’s a fantasy that SimpleX will ever catch on over Signal. You have to look at in the sense of path of least resistance for that mass market, not one individual person to another individual person. Keep in mind why it’s too difficult to sign up for a Mastodon account so it’s easier to stay on Twitter. People promote the benefits of Mastodon but nobody has ever built any success in the mass market or built a name for themself on Mastodon over using Facebook and Twitter. Name a company that people know in other countries and only uses fediverse exclusively. It’s the lowest number you can think of. As long as people have someone’s Twitter handle, everybody can find them. That’s why Signal is the best option, because people only have to post their username or give out their phone number, and everybody can be found on Signal.
For example, if you and I have a mutual contact, you could tell them to message me on Signal and you give them my info so they can talk with me there. If a company starts using Signal and posts the company’s number saying they are on Signal similar to how a lot of companies outside of North America use Whatsapp with the company number, the company can also use Signal as another contact option. That’s why SimpleX will never grow beyond people who pay attention to protecting persona privacy.
Look at PGP, it’s 30 years old, how many times has a person asked you for your public key?
Disable SMS. It is service as a software subtitute. We do not control it.
Only if you do not register your phone number with any service like Signal, bank does not require 2FA before you can access your account, and you never need any company to send you a message.
This seems like way too much thought and work. I delete and report any unknown numbers unless they’re obviously from someone I know. Easy!