188
submitted 11 months ago by carnha@lemm.ee to c/privacyguides@lemmy.one

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/7363991

While Jitsi is open-source, most people use the platform they provide, meet.jit.si, for immediate conference calls. They have now introduced a "Know Your Customer" policy and require at least one of the attendees to log in with a Facebook, Github (Microsoft), or Google account.

One option to avoid this is to self-host, but then you'll be identifiable via your domain and have to maintain a server.

As a true alternative to Jitsi, there's jami.net. It is a decentralized conference app, free open-source, and account creation is optional. It's available for all major platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android), including on F-Droid.

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[-] rar@discuss.online 38 points 11 months ago

This almost sounds like a 5D chess move to promote using alternative instances instead of the main demo. I'm thinking of selfhosting one for my friends group.

Requiring an acc is understandable but making it Meta/MS and not even something like openID really kills the vibe.

[-] gk99@beehaw.org 4 points 11 months ago

For most people, they already have these account services and won't really care about this.

For everyone else, they should probably already have an alternate instance anyway.

[-] QuazarOmega@lemy.lol 2 points 11 months ago
[-] uis@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago
[-] QuazarOmega@lemy.lol 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

If you're gonna RTFM me like that at least do it properly https://lmddgtfy.net/?q=what%20is%20openid 😝

I asked because from the name it looked too generic to find with a simple search, but I guess I was wrong, I just overthought it

[-] Ogygus@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)
[-] CrypticCoffee@lemm.ee 32 points 11 months ago

That is a massive disappointment. Hopefully Element gets their video calls sorted. Why can I not just have privacy tools that I can use? Why are the good ones taken away?

[-] garrett@infosec.pub 23 points 11 months ago

Short answer is that a lot of privacy-focused tools get abused like hell and put these companies in an untenable position. It sounds like Jitsi had something fairly bad happening that would’ve put them in a regulatory pinch.

[-] CrypticCoffee@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

But the companies chosen for login is a slap in the face of anyone who cares about privacy.

If it is e2e encrypted, why would this change mitigate what they are concerned about?

[-] garrett@infosec.pub 1 points 11 months ago

“Slap in the face” is a bit dramatic when this doesn’t impact the truly private version of this software, the version you host on a system you control.

I’m also not sure what end-to-end encryption has to do with this since preventing the sign up of an abusive user essentially addresses the issue. It’s probably not something they’d wanna do but I’d wager they were getting some subpoenas and/or warrants that they couldn’t provide much information for and LEOs were ratcheting up pressure. Unfortunately, the legal side of tech is more than “ha ha can’t do that, officer”.

[-] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 15 points 11 months ago

Because privacy is not a lucrative business. And the opposite is incredibly lucrative.

[-] CrypticCoffee@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago

So they abandoned what built them up. They sold out?

[-] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 10 points 11 months ago

Kinda? It sounds like their platform was being used for unethical activity. But it's like, you had to have seen that coming from the beginning, right?

[-] detun3d@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago

I don't remember Element using the Jitsi Team's instance. Element.io had their own so this shouldn't affect it's Matrix users at all.

[-] CrypticCoffee@lemmy.ml 4 points 11 months ago

Yes. Jitsi was one of the best for a while. Secure and just works. I think Element wasn't e2e encrypted while debugging but I'm guessing is close to usable. I mentioned it more as a FOSS alternative.

[-] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 30 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

~~Just destroyed everything they built in 1 fell swoop. There's absolutely no reason to use Jitsi at this point.~~

Retracting comment. Jitsi is still great, you just need to avoid the official instance.

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 19 points 11 months ago

Sure there is: Host your own.

[-] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 7 points 11 months ago

Yeah not everyone has the hardware or the knowledge for that

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 4 points 11 months ago

If I had my druthers I'd start a business setting up and hosting these sorts of things because it's way better than using a centralized service.

Unfortunately, my druthers fields lie barren.

[-] splendoruranium@infosec.pub 11 points 11 months ago

Just destroyed everything they built in 1 fell swoop. There’s absolutely no reason to use Jitsi at this point.

They built a great software. The software is still there.
meet.jit.si is just a demo instance for the software, nothing more. You're supposed to use the software yourself.

[-] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 4 points 11 months ago

Yes, I see that now, looking further into it. Framasoft has a very easy and intuitive instance at framatalk.org

[-] digger@lemmy.ca 22 points 11 months ago

I didn't realize how many community run servers were out there.

https://jitsi.github.io/handbook/docs/community/community-instances/

[-] thecam@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago

I found this new community that is about finding new jitsi meet instances. Good place to find other instances so far.

!jitsimeetinstances@lemmy.world

[-] QuazarOmega@lemy.lol 14 points 11 months ago

Not even a Jitsi-only account?

unimpressed

[-] privacyfalcon9899@lemmy.one 8 points 11 months ago

You can use a community instance as pointed out by other authors. It’s a pity that they make this change, but still we should be grateful for this open source product that can be hosted by other providers.

Up to 4 ppl, you can use brave talk. For more, use https://meet.calyx.net/ or https://framatalk.org/

[-] uis@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

Jami? GNU Ring?

Well, there is also Tox(p2p), Matrix(fed) and Mumble(isolated)

[-] Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 11 months ago

Mirotalk is a solid alternative

[-] kingthrillgore@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

Earlier this year we saw an increase in the number of reports we received about some people using our service in ways that we cannot tolerate. To be more clear, this was not about some people merely saying things that others disliked.

Let me translate this into a language we can understand: We got some mean letters about CSAM and are reactively responding to it

[-] CriticalMiss@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

The FSF jitsi patches still work, no?

this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
188 points (100.0% liked)

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