What about pinephone?

The reason we don't have democracy is not because we don't fight enough with each other, but because we can't fight together for a common goal. 98% want a democracy and would prefer privacy. We need to stop letting politicians pin us against each other, but let us understand that despite our differences, we have a lot of common interest and that they are the actual enemy.

As some did in Russia during conscription for war in Ukraine, shoot the officer that made you fight in a war, not the unwilling solider on the other side of the border. People don't want to fight each other, it is politicians that throw other people's lives away while they sit far away from action, pretending to be actual war heroes.

Using apps that cant provide anonymity and at the same time not the ones that do is very dangerous for society as a whole. Some journalist and activist need anonymity and if only place where they can be heard is on mainstream apps that don't offer anonymity, they are stuck.

I disagree. There are many FOSS decentralized projects that are still running today, including XMPP, that are doing fine and make even better and more secure software than Signal. All centralized privacy apps so far closed or started sharing data with governments. Statistically that is far more likely scenario then a popular FOSS app to lack devs.

Why would you trust Signal more than XMPP that uses same encryption? I think people are just afraid of things they haven't heard of, even if they have been there for longer and have a better reputation. This is why marketing is the biggest business in the world, google and facebooks only revenue is selling ad space and they are richest companies in the world. Fight that marketing, learn a bit about XMPP and you will see it is far better than Signal.

Exactly. It is not that they don't care about privacy it is just that they trust them because they are the standard, they are big and government is supposed to keep them in check.

People trust the system way too much

It is important for a society to have privacy, not just you as an individual. There are journalists and activist that need privacy for a very good reason.

"Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." ― Edward Snowden

Exactly my point is that if it closes we will have to push for new apps anyway and it is better to do it now, before more users potentially use SIgnal and are left without their app.

Yes, I write credentials in a file and encrypt them with my public key. Then I use my private key to decrypt them when needed.

I disagree, both about alternatives and about trust. I outlined XMPP (and even matrix) as alternatives in my post. If only popularity is an issue with these alternatives than we have to work on that, to make it popular, that is what this post is for. Just like Lemmy had few users once, XMPP and matrix are not as big as Signal. But their design is better and their use should be encouraged. I don't think that trusting a single entity, such as Signal is something we have to do. Trust should be only depended on if there is no way to build a system without or less of it. It is better to fight for it now, since Signal use can eventually grow and make it harder to switch. We can debate over likeliness of this corporation being good forever, even when it's current members are replaced (due to old age if nothing else), but I think it is easier to debate over their capability to be good if they are under pressure of US security agencies. Even if they are willing to risk their freedom (and their lives) for their users, they can't stop the government of shutting them down. The state has killed people for far less over the years.

XMPP is decentralized, you can run your own server. In open decentralized protocols, such issues are resolved by design. Further more most XMPP servers don't require a phone number, why would they, unlike Signal.

Every worker needs to be in a quality grassroots union. Even if you have a good Tech job now, this can change. Strike in solidarity with other workers, only a fair and safe society will bring you personal well-being.