The trend today is to stop using WhatsApp since the policy has been updated to allow you to share your personal information with Facebook. Some recommend switching to other central messaging systems such as Signal or Telegram, but there is also a problem with it. Read on to learn how to recognize when a messaging app wants to leverage and control you, enabling better communication between people.
Personally, I specifically never became dependent on WhatsApp because I knew ten years ago that something like this would eventually happen. I mean the clues are pretty obvious; it’s a closed system, each app needs to connect to the same central servers, it needs your phone number … it’s clearly designed from the start to:
- Generate a large user base over a number of years;
- Sales and / or change policies in order to benefit from the user base;
- Profit.
Embarrassment still falls to hundreds of millions of people for this scheme. I hear that people in some countries even do business via WhatsApp.
Switching to another messaging service may seem like the solution to Facebook’s revenue from your privacy, but be careful, because you’re probably just swapping one dictatorship for another. Maybe the new dictator looks like a better dictator?
Telegram founder and principal. He’s right. pic.twitter.com/Q45xv0rr8y
– Vlad Savov (@vladsavov) 9 January 2021
Pavel Duroc, the founder and head of Telegram, may say things like “respect users”, but how long is it going to take? The founders of Whatsapp, Jan Koum and Brian Acton, were originally good dictators who also respected users. They even promised to protect user data after acquiring Facebook! It hasn’t taken very long now, has it?
Look at history
Why is it so easy to predict that all these internet messaging programs are not going to last? This is because none of the others ran virtually the same messaging programs. Everyone does very similar things and generally fails in the same way. Let’s look at a few:
ICQ
- First instant messaging program on the Internet, centralized servers;
- Bought by AOL, and fading in the background in favor of AIM;
- Mail.Ru bought ICQ, blocked third-party clients, Russian intelligence agencies may read all messages.
PURPOSE
- Most popular instant messaging system in the US, centralized servers;
- Ads added along with inflated monetization methods;
- PURPOSE closed.
MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger, Live Messenger
- Lightweight Instant Messaging also worked with AIM, conveniently integrated with Windows central servers;
- Ads added along with inflated monetization methods;
- MSN / Live Messenger is turned off.
yahoo messenger
- Conveniently integrated with popular Yahoo services, centralized servers;
- Ads added along with inflated monetization methods;
- Yahoo Messenger turned off.
Skype
- Peer-to-peer instant messaging and video / voice calls use only a centralized server for registration;
- Purchased by Microsoft, peer-to-peer feature removal, multiple app redesigns, monetization options added, functionality added regularly & removed & changed;
- Currently practically unusable and unreliable.
Facebook Messenger
- Conveniently integrated with Facebook applications, uses standard XMPP technology, allows third-party apps and integrations, centralized servers;
- Remove XMPP standard, remove third-party app integrations, remove Facebook app integration, require separate Facebook Messenger app, block mobile web browser access to messages;
- Facebook Messenger is widely used for invasion of privacy and to collect data about users to sell ads.
- Internet messages that match your phone number with phone numbers in other people’s phones to easily connect you, centralized servers, promises of respect for privacy, no third-party programs;
- WhatsApp purchased through Facebook, apps not maintained for all platforms removed from some platforms;
- Facebook changes policy and starts using WhatsApp’s user base to sell ads.
Anything from Google (Sorry, I do not have time to list all the failed Google messaging apps)
- Random new chat program, centralized server;
- No one uses it;
- Google shuts it down.
Today, we still have dozens of Internet messaging programs / services, and almost all of them repeat the same mistakes as those that failed. Personally, I get quite tired of recommending instant messaging programs to friends and family or colleagues, so they end up getting terrible or turn off. It seems like this is how things are going.
Will Signal or Telegram ever become awful or shut down? Probably! Both actually promote an open source nature, while the code for the Telegram client is completely open to forks and both the Signal server and the client are an open source. However, both are still centralized. With Telegram, Pavel Durov is at the mercy of deciding how things work with their centralized servers. Signal does not allow you to create federal servers. You may only connect to the Open Whisper servers under the control of Moxie Marlinspike. Both dictate what is allowed in their respective networks, and can therefore change the rules at any time.
A success story of the messaging system
So did someone do internet messaging right? There is one internet messaging system that does NOT use central servers, so it was very successful. In fact, it has outlived all other internet messaging systems with a long lifespan as it continues to evolve. Here are some differences that make it a success.
- Everyone can create their own server, connect it to the internet, create a DNA record with a domain, and they can transfer messages between any other server on the internet. Your server will be able to exchange messages between users and external users as long as it is connected to the internet. This is called federation and it is a way of decentralizing communication.
- If you do not want to create your own server, there are millions. Some are run by a business for business use only, or another business allows you to use one for free, or they can use one for a monthly fee. It is very flexible.
- The system is completely open. Not only can you create your own server, but you can also create your own client programs in any way you like. It is also not just one open-source server software. There are companies that make a complete messaging server that has more advanced features yet maintains interoperability. There are companies that make and sell special customer programs. Everyone can send messages to each other for universal, non-discriminatory, all-encompassing communication.
If you can not know what we are talking about here, the big one that exists the longest and is used by more people than any other internet messaging protocol (4 billion people and growing) is called email. Virtually every Internet-connected electronic device you buy today requires an email account for identification or offers to create for the first time. How many Apple users do not have an iCloud email account? How many Android users do not have a Gmail account? How many Windows users do not have a Microsoft account? There is no reason to pressure people to use email to send or receive messages because they already have the app, they already have the accounts and they probably use it to some extent already. If you are in a primary school, high school or university, or if you have a job, you probably use it there too. This means that the access limit is very low.
When every chat program in the world is dead, email will still be here.
– DHH (@dhh) 11 December 2018
Some people may not want to use it because they do not like the interface of their default email client, or they get too much spam or whatever. Because this protocol is completely open, you can literally change anything you want. You can install an app like Spike that makes email feel exactly like WhatsApp. You can subscribe to a completely fresh messaging experience like Hey.com. You can encrypt messages using the Criptext Signal Protocol (there are actually dozens of ways to secure email messages.) You can add universal voice / video calls with dozens of WebRTC options. You can add animated cartoons and emoticons. You can add tick indicators and read receipts or new ways to share files. You can set up temporary alias accounts to hand out if you want more control over who you can contact. You can block everyone except people in your contact list. You can set up automated rules or actions that process messages for you. If there is something you do not like about email, someone has probably already made a solution for it and there is nothing stopping someone else from updating on the platform.
This is another big difference from all the centralized messaging services … there is no ’email emperor’ that can make drastic changes like the bosses of Open Whisper, Telegram, Facebook or Google can do. The ecosystem is built like the internet … You can start your own business selling better email programs like Em Client, or you can sell secure email services like ProtonMail, or you can sell server software like Microsoft Exchange or Blackberry Server, or you can sell privately email servers like Helm, or you can give away email services for free and scrape user data to sell ads like Gmail. The possibilities are endless.
Just because email is one of the oldest forms of internet messaging, does not mean it is outdated, on the contrary, it is mature and robust. The oldest road in the world has existed for 5500 years, and it still works.
Closure
It bothers my head that so many people want to replace a new internet messaging system to replace WhatsApp as Facebook is still making it awful while completely ignoring the smartest solution they have ever had. This is not to say that email does not have problems. The fragmentation of the system can be considered a weak point, but in the same way the diversity of the system can be considered a great force. No matter how good / bad your personal experience with email is, the decentralized, collaborative communication system is clearly the smartest way to go when developing communication systems for a long life in the future.
Although I personally believe the email system can be further upgraded as it has been many times over the past few decades, but there are a few other decentralized communication systems in development that follow the same decentralized, collaborative architecture. The Matrix protocol, which is still quite young, with not such a diverse ecosystem as email, is a good one to keep an eye on. XMPP is another standards-based messaging protocol that has been around for a while and can be truly federated. XMPP also has a large number of client options and extensions.
