Homegrown Private Messaging, why it matters.
Whether it is friends, family or colleagues, sometimes we find ourselves spread across various apps in order to communicate. This is not always secure and depending on the service being used it can be a needless distraction because of feature differences, being attached to social media features or simply because the informal nature of the service keeps conversations form being as in-depth as they could be.
SMS: SMS is a goto for many people. This is great for quick messages and even daily convesation. The problem exists that these conversations can typically only happen over one devices and you can't continue a conversation on your PC or Tablet if you wanted. The other problem is they aren't encrypted and the phone carriers are less than clear about where your data go through in order to get to it's destination. This is a problem.
Messenger, Whatsapp, Snapchat, Instagram: These social media messengers are convenient and work over time to help you FIND the people you want to chat with when you aren't sure how to reach them. This seems like a nice feature until you really start to consider how exactly they do this. These social media companies build profiles on each use, using information given by the user and information giving by the user's device, unknown to them. This can be complete conversations from other apps, images from their gallery and GPS positioning data. The metrics from these sources are actively used everyday to build a digital version of 'you' that can be sold to anyone (Not just companies and governments) This is also a problem.
Discord, Signal, Telegram: These are popular messengers that offer 'security' and tout encryption and privacy. The deliver by many measures but they still actively take a phone number or email address and data from your phone via their apps and sell profiles. As with the social media messengers, these apps have central servers and in their User Licensing Agreements have wording that make it extremely clear that any conversations and all media therein are property of the company themselves. This is yet another problem.
We have three styles of messaging and three unique problems. These are just natural flaws in the products themselves. They are all a product of omitting features for the sake of selling your data.
SMS does not get sold to public companies, this is a mode of conversation that is federally protected from being able to be sold off. It is however a mode of communication that is unencrypted because carriers are legally required to store your SMS logs indefinitely to be given over should Law Enforcement need it later. People in this day in age who run afoul of the law knowingly or unknowingly must come to terms with the fact that their lives worth of communication can be brought under scrutiny no matter how much time passes.
Social Media Messaging is not Federally protected and is designed specifically to be combed through, analyzed and sold to data brokers who want your data to market or to provide broad analytics to governments (Not exclusive to the US). These private data brokers also don't really care who they sell to. It is very easy for a deranged ex, jealous friend or general psycho to narrow down your messaging through a data broker and buy it's analytics for tens of dollars.
Secure Messengers have a very checkered and spotty history. Many function as advertised. They have encryption and aren't easily intercepted. They also work very hard to keep the user experience up. These services not only enjoy high user-ship but serve as the trusted places these users say and share things they wouldn't even do in private in some cases. These messengers also have portal for data brokers but it's not as cut an dry as 'getting' the conversations. Most times only the encrypted hashes are for sale and it's up to the recipient to decrypt for whatever reason. Despite these messengers being encrypted most times the server itself holds a third key that under their User License Agreement they can use to view conversations should an authority need such.
The common statement you hear from people is that "I don't have anything to hide" or "Why worry if you aren't doing anything bad?". This may seem rational but if you were to try to envision this scenario in any other setting it would be completely absurd and intolerable. Image you are at your dinner table with your family and just on the other side of an open window some one has purchased a spot to stand and listen to everything with an undisclosed purpose. Would you stand for this?
I won't and that's why I've done something:
I run my own Instant Messaging servers using the XMPP protocol. These services offer End to End encryption and many additional features such as "read confirmation", location sharing, activity status and file share. The data lives on servers in Bedford, Indiana. I cannot view this data as it is stored on encrypted drives and configured in such a way that I do not have access to the keys that would allow me to view the volumes.
The services is called SCS Chat and has clients for the PC, Android and IOS.
This is a great alternative to all forms of messaging you currently use. You can make voice and video calls across devices, share files and contacts.
It is perfect for Parents and their children. Parents buying accounts so their children can communicate with their friends is a much safer alternative than using any of the other platforms that could potentially have predators who are looking for access.
It is also great for people who maintain a close knit group of contacts and don't want to deal with the distraction or frustration of spam or unreliable calls/messaging
This is a Secure but not an Anonymous service. These are two different things. I require to know WHO I'm providing access to but have no desire to know who they talk to or what about because it's not my business.
Accounts are $5/mo and a link to the client is provided after you sign up.
To find out more information or to sign up visit me:
The service is also premium. Many people prefer Apple's iMessage every other option because it's polished, has features and 'just works'. This goes for that same feel with the added benefit of having your safety and privacy in mind while keeping all the data here in the Lawrence County