I absolutely do not understand why I have to link my very sensitive Signal account to a very insecure and hard to change ID: my phone number (which can be traced to my identity in too many ways).
Why Signal does not allow fully anonymous IDs (like Threema does) is a mystery to me.
Signal is fine for most users, but it is inherently _unsafe_ for high-value sensitive communications where participants can expect targeted phishing attacks.
It is not about being anonymous (though this also could be nice in some situations), it is about identity theft and credentials theft. There are numerous ways to steal my phone number and then impersonate me on Signal. For me, it is not a big deal (though a dedicated hater can probably ruin my life with that). For many people in sensitive positions, this is literally a matter of life and death.
On average, stealing a phone number is much more difficult than stealing someone's password, because of the frequency of password reuse and data breaches.
If someone were to do that, it would be blocked by registration lock (which it prompts you to do). If they were to guess that, all your contacts would be notified that your identity has changed.
I cannot do it in my country without physically going to some office and showing my passport. Doesn’t feel “temporary” to me.
SIM cloning is a thing. S7 hacking is a thing. Phone numbers are _insecure_ as IDs, as simple as that. Signal’s insistence to use nothing but phone numbers is somewhat suspicious these days.
(Both major competitors in secure messaging, Wire and Theeema, allow pseudonymous temporary IDs in addition to phone numbers).
Why Signal does not allow fully anonymous IDs (like Threema does) is a mystery to me.
Signal is fine for most users, but it is inherently _unsafe_ for high-value sensitive communications where participants can expect targeted phishing attacks.