TIL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMPP . Discussion about decentralized messaging solutions brought this up, for when paranoia (of which I have a healthy dose) dissuade you from Telegram or Signal. I once knew it as Jabber, but in one form or another the solution has been around since 2010. I'm still tired from getting all my contacts to move to Telegram from SMS (evil by circumstance) and WhatsApp (evil by FB control), though. And, personally, I'm still intrigued by #DeltaChat as a means of reducing the buy-in cost. Or I can just stay where I am on Telegram. 🤷
@worldsendless >evil by circumstance
what's that mean? telegram isn't "good" because it's not genuinely private nor encrypted while otherwise masquerading as such.
@sevenonetwo ah, SMS evilness. Because it's just a flawed system from the get-go; it didn't start that way, and didn't originally have bad intentions, but it is hatefully obtrusive, bound to big companies who make no trustworthy guarantees about data privacy or profiteering, is very vulnerable to spammers, has no encryption facilities, and is just a pain to use. "Evil by circumstance" because they had no original bad intentions or neglect; evil has just overtaken it.
@sevenonetwo I think there are products made whose initial form is so suspect, even by its current standards, that they are defective by design. "overtaken by evil" would be the other scenario, where their original design was not bad in its then-context, but has become such.
@worldsendless >[evil] because they had no original bad intentions or neglect, evil has just overtaken it
this is the story of any centralized, private entity. it's a natural process that cannot be avoided. to use a shitty metaphor, it's like being a holder/keeper over the ring of power: your intentions might be good but it will corrupt you over time and nobody is above its influence. the only solution is to cast it away.