This week, an interview we did with a couple of smart friends about the question: what would those of us who rely on Signal encrypted messaging do if that service were disabled in the US. First up, all participants in this discussion agree that Signal is amazing and always getting better, so this is not a take down of that app or it's developers. But the buds do think that the weakest point for Signal is the centralization of infrastructure with US-based companies. My friends did some thinking and research and put it into a website called Signal-Contingency-Plan.Info and made a zine discussing it and what they consider the best alternative for their needs an app called Delta Chat.

So, for this discussion, they'll talk about how encrypted apps work, what works so great about Signal, some ups and downs of other available encrypted chat apps and how folks might rebound if Signal got choked out in this manner. As a reminder, at the end of 2024 large parts of the region I'm in lost cellular and internet service and it came back in starts and staggers over a number of months, similar for running and potable water, roads and other infrastructure we rely on. Our hope in sharing this conversation is that people will consider threat modeling to develop social plans for contingency and alternatives for the infrastructures they rely on.

Delta Chat & having a backup for Signal:

• Contingency website: https://signal-contingency-plan.info/
• Contingency zine: https://archive.org/details/signal-contingency-zine/signal-contingency-zine/
• Delta Chat forum: https://forum.delta.chat
• Delta Chat faq: https://faq.delta.chat
• Delta Chat mastodon: https://chaos.social/@delta
• PACE planning for communications: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PACE_(communication_methodology)

Some reporting mentioned:

• https://www.404media.co/when-your-threat-model-is-being-a-moron-signal/
• https://www.404media.co/the-signal-clone-the-trump-admin-uses-was-hacked/
• "inspirational" fiction: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/crimethinc-survival

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Featured Track:

• Creep (Instrumental) by TLC
• Sad React by Emperor X from Sad React _ United Earth League of Quarantine Aerobatics