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(No central servers and everything goes through Tor, try blocking that!)
this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2025
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Privacy
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let's say that signal is magically blocked in Sweden, can you still use Molly?
https://droidify.eu.org/app/?id=im.molly.app or https://github.com/mollyim/mollyim-android
No, probably not. They both speak the same protocol and talk to the same servers.
Unless the block was a app store distribution restriction only
It probably is/was/will be just the app store.
It would be very weird if it was - when a "ban" happens, at least here, they block the website. I doubt Sweden would fight even basic Wireguard/OpenVPN tho, so I don't see it as a big problem. The bigger problem would be carriers denying registration confirmation SMS, which is yet another downside of the phone number requirement.
Even if it's not Molly could implement Tor or any sort of bridge to bypass these restrictions (such as Signal themselves)
Yes! Because unlike stock Signal (which, last time I tried, restricts you to their own proxy implementation), you can use whatever Socks proxy you want. Including Tor. Yeah, sure, you could use a VPN with Signal - but for people who want a persistent connection, having a VPN on 24/7 would be inconvenient. Such a frustrating part of the official app...
I think Signal made it so Iranian could use the app when their government blocked it through proxy. https://signal.org/blog/help-iran-reconnect/
Yeah, I know that - I am myself in a situation where we need increasingly obfuscated evasion solutions. However, my issue is not in that it developed such a proxy - but rather, that it doesn't give an option to use a different one. For example, I have my proxy set up - so why does Signal need its own separate proxy rather than using the one everything else already uses? Why can't it use Tor without torifying the whole device's traffic?
Not to mention that dedicated solutions (XRay and such) are focused on censorship evasion while for Signal stealthy proxies are comparatively more of an afterthought. So there is a chance it wouldn't be able to evolve fast enough to keep up with the censors.
P.S. I think in Iran, there was also a bigger issue - the SMS codes for registration just didn't arrive.
Sweden… more like snitchden… amirite?
This is where Signal's biggest problem shows. It's centralized. Matrix is the better choice since it will be up to you if you decide to break the law if it's banned, since there will still be plenty of servers you can reach.
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They will probably just show message to Swedish ip addresses and state that they cannt provide you with the binary as you are using a Swedish ip.
Something very clear to say use a VPN 😉
Signal's american and their infrastructure's based on american Amazon, so there's that...
You could use a VPN i guess.
don’t kink shame