Safety of Telegram? (self.zoophilia)
submitted 2017-03-17 00:24:59 by zooawayyy
I know zoophiles are a paranoid people and there are few truly safe forms of communication. But, realistically, what is the community opinion on the safety of Telegram, and especially Telegram groups in regards to zoophilia?
I'm under the impression that it's not a very safe platform, especially considering that accounts are tied to phone numbers. But, in interacting with people you don't share your phone number with, is it easy to connect your real life identity to your username? Is there a way to cover your tracks?
You don't need to use your real phone number to sign up to telegram, and it's pretty easy to get a 'fake' number from services like google voice. Telegram doesn't display users' phone numbers publicly, anyway, but it's still best to be safe.
Other than that, telegram isn't exactly the most secure platform out there but I think it's good enough for our purposes.
The main issue with using your own number is that people who know you IRL can discover your account using it.
Can you suggest any free temp fake numbers services?
Particularly ones which don't, themselves, require a personal account tied to a phone number, such as is required by Google, or other personal billing information.
It seems far too grabby with contacts and info for my tastes. It will let folks who have your number contact you and get some info so be careful with your profile or use a fake a number. Considering zoos still use Skype it is a step up, since knowing your Skype handle reveals your ip if you don't vpn.
Telegram is quite okay to use but there are a few things worth nothing. Everyone you chat to who doesn't have your phone number won't see your number, just your (nick)name. But everyone who has your phone number can see your telegram account. So if you set up Telegram with your /r/zoophilia name, all your friends who use Telegram as well can see that name too.
Use a temporary number or a number nobody knows (I used the number of my data simcard which nobody knows or cares about, but can receive text messages). On Android there is an alternative Telegram app called Plus so you can use your main number for close friends, and an anonymous number for zoo related stuff and use two accounts simultaneously.
Telegram is not safe against State level actors.
The operators of the service get your phone number. If you use a "fake" number, the provider of the "fake" number might gain control of your account in the future, so it is less of an option.
Telegram's protocol only ensures server-to-client encryption. In other words, an outsider cannot decrypt your traffic, but the operator of the Telegram service can. The only exception are "Secret Chats", but you have to enable them and nobody ever does that in practice.
Signal is an ok alternative since it solves the second problem, but it does not solve the first one and the quality of the application is a bit lacking at times.
If you are any serious you are better off setting your own IRC or XMPP service within a network such as I2p, or build a Retroshare group. It is more work but it does not expose you. Plug-and-play security is a myth.
As noted here, the community opinion of Telegram is that it has a lot of features people like, therefore they'll use it no matter how insecure it is. In reality it is almost honeypot-like in its claims of "security" while only providing a thin illusion of security, and with virtually no privacy or anonymity.
Hacks are known to exist for data it stores in the memory of your device, which is never encrypted, even in secure chats. It seems most people don't care about security at that level.
If I'm not mistaken, it also relies on Google's messaging infrastructure which is another layer of vulnerability.
But... look, stickers! That's more important than security, right?
As you can probably tell, I'm very skeptical of Telegram, and I don't think it would be THAT hard to make something much more secure/anonymous.