France bans ministers from WhatsApp, Signal; demands French alternatives
France bans ministers from WhatsApp, Signal; demands French alternatives
‘These digital tools are not devoid of security flaws,’ government document says.
the entire government will be using [Olvid], the world's most secure instant messaging system," French digital minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed on X.
Clearly they're very discerning when it comes to their choice of communication apps. 🙄
100From their Google play store page: "Olvid is the first private instant messaging application for everyone."
22At least it's open source, so we should know soon enough how it compares to Signal
38
Why dont they use SimpleX?
2They’ve gone in on matrix pretty hard at this point
8
French here. It is all about the IT sovereignty (souveraineté numérique). The idea is to use French solutions in order to limit leaks if confidential information and dealing with other country without worrying about threat of limiting, stopping critical services. Also it is easier to apply EU laws like GPDR. That is why all the French private company dealing with sensitive information (military, cyber security..) are only using French solutions.
49I get it, but I just don't get why wouldn't they just follow other govs' steps and just set up a matrix server instead. It's already available and proven.
10Yeah I mean you’re not exactly shedding some deep insight here, it’s very obviously that. While there’s merit to banning WhatsApp, it’s just foolish to ban signal. It’s the best in class for a reason, and it’s open source. France should devote resources to auditing and supporting signal if they really want to throw money to developing secure software.
-23You say it is obvious but yet you still talking about using Signal.
The logic is simple, is it French ? Yes, ok we can use it if it is secure. No, we won't use it.
I am not endorsing this logic, this is just the logic the politician are using. So no, financing Signal won't be a solution here.
And of course what is the simplest way to spy your citizens, control the main way of communication.
11Why is it that signal users are so... obsessive? it's just an encrypted messaging app. Not the second coming of christ.
9
What security vulnerabilities does Signal have? I implore them to find a more secure messenger.
Edit: Apparently they're using Olvid. Claims to be the most secure messenger. Only the clients are open source, not the server code and they're using a whole different algorithm. I seriously don't understand why they don't just partner with Signal, bet these guys don't even have Signal's level of quantum resistant encryption.
26Olvid is French and Signal isn't, which seems to be très important.
28Plus for the French Government it's easier to twist arms in France than in Switzerland.
3
Plot twist: maybe whatsapp, signal and telegram are harder to hack, maybe olvid has back doors that allows them snoop on each other 🤔
(am only half joking 😉)
7I think that it has to do with GDPR. Signal has servers outside the jurisdiction of France or the EU. This app probably not.
Not that I agree though. Signal would be a better option.
5
It's a really big problem for ministers using private messaging services. All of this is supposed to either be public domain or secret. If it's labelled as Secret it should be officially secret, not just "we didn't tell anyone about it".
Accountability and transparency are cornerstones of democracy.
16How about GApps tho? You know, the piece of spyware Google embeds in Android's system partition?
FYI:
Private open source alternative to it,
is MicroG13Micro g is still downloads Google proprietary blobs and runs those. So it is not open source so much as it's an open source launcher of Google's proprietary software. It's an interesting improvement, but it does not a panacea it does not fix the issues
16Are you sure? I thought that what you describe is what packages suck as NikGapps did, while MicroG is a reimplementation of the code. It does call Google webservers, but it doesn't run Google's blobs (which is also why it's severely limited/fragile compared to packages that run them)
2
I believe microG still use Google's services, at very least it connects to
supl.google.com7
What they really mean is that they're having trouble reading the messages on signal so please stop
10I mean, any program you didn't make isn't truly secure from your POV, that's all there is to it. And since this affects their governmental employees only it's more than reasonable.
3Is that all there is to it? Signal is open source. If they wanted to be extra paranoid they could take and maintain their own branch but that's a bit silly. Building your own is almost certainly the least secure option
7
This is the best summary I could come up with:
French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has banned widely used messaging applications WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal for ministers and their teams due to security vulnerabilities, according to a memo seen by POLITICO.
Borne set a deadline of December 8 for the government to switch to using the French app Olvid instead, which is certified by France's cybersecurity agency ANSSI.
Tchap, the government-developed secure messaging and collaboration app, launched in 2019, is also allowed.
In December, the entire government will be using [Olvid], the world's most secure instant messaging system," French digital minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed on X.
The government previously ordered civil servants to remove all types of social media platforms, gaming and video-streaming apps — including TikTok, CandyCrush and Netflix — from their work devices over cybersecurity and privacy concerns.
This article was updated to include details on the memo seen by POLITICO.
The original article contains 193 words, the summary contains 143 words. Saved 26%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
5What's wrong with XMPP? I've been using it for many years, it's by far been the greatest experience and it has OMEMO encryption.
5ios apps are all really, really shit.
2
Aren't they already using their own version of Matrix for IM comms?
4