Hey, everyone. If you’re looking for a fresh privacy podcast, we recently started a new one called Signal Jam.
Here’s a bit about why we made Signal Jam and what we’re hoping to do differently.
We even have preliminary ways for you to participate in the project, which you can read about here.
Feel free to connect with us on Proton, Tuta, Signal, or here on Lemmy. Looking forward to your feedback and thoughts!
Do you have plans to make a Simplex group soon? You mentioned on the pod it’s where you two first met. Would love to chat and Simplex is the most private option imo.
Hey, there— we’re still open to it, but when we launch it depends on how much demand there is from the community. Realistically, we’ll probably wait a few more episodes down the line before we start one. Out of curiosity, do you use Signal, Matrix, or other platforms you think we should consider?
-M
I use Signal but I keep signal use to personal IRL contacts. I don’t use Matrix as much anymore but if you have a matrix room I’d join in. I’m on the more advanced side of the privacy lifestyle so my communications are highly compartmentalized. Simplex is a bit clunky still but for smaller communities it’s not terrible.
Totally respect the compartmentalization strategy. I’ll chat with Jay about this… maybe we’ll bump up the SimpleX timeline a bit.
We’re trying to prioritize which platforms to start with since the project is so new. As we publish more content and resources, we’re hoping they bring real value to the community, and in turn widen our audience. Once that happens, it would make more sense to open up more channels to accommodate more folks. One thing at a time 🙂
Just wanted to say this is great. Awesome initiative, looking forward for new episodes!
Appreciate the enthusiasm! Thanks for following along. Feel free to provide feedback, and if you feel so inclined, consider participating in the project!
-M
Shouldn’t the podcast about passwords and 2FA be called “Security 101” instead of “Privacy 101”? How is that related to privacy? You should have two sections for your episodes: one for privacy and one for security.
Totally valid point, and just to be ultra clear: yes, this episode was more security focused, technically speaking. Good privacy starts with good security. We’re hoping that newcomers to the space who are primarily interested in privacy as a topic start with that principle in mind. We tried, as best we could, to avoid dropping the word “privacy” throughout this episode in an effort to create that distinction.
Thanks for the call out! You’re right to be mindful that these are related but separate concepts.
-M
I agree. Passwords and 2fa definetly leans more on the security side rather than privacy. It’s important to keep these two terms destinct.
Much disappointment. Could have been signalj.am
I agree. Unfortunately .am TLDs do not support WhoIs privacy. ☹️
Hah! Good catch! Fixed. Thank you! 🙂
This looks cool. Thank you for creating and sharing! I’ve added to my (privacy-respecting, I think) podcast app of choice and will give a listen.
Thanks for following! Out of curiosity, what’s your preferred podcast client?
Well I just went down the rabbit hole to verify that my podcast app is simply that, and not tracking tons of data to send back to who knows where. I had been using Overcast but a few months ago changed to RSS Radio after reading a recommendation - perhaps on Reddit? RSS Radio now seems to be all but disavowed by both Dorada Software, who links from the site for it, and Maple Media Apps, LLC, who is the publisher on the app store. The app privacy cards on the iOS App Store do not instill a ton of confidence, showing: Data Used to Track You (Identifiers, Usage Data) and Data Linked to You (Usage Data)
Perhaps it’s time to switch… Podverse is at least open source, although they track Usage Data and link Contact Info to you. But good ol’ Overcast only has a card for Data Not Linked to You, which seems like a big improvement.
Good on you for the thorough research, and I like your logic. Things change fast, and it’s good to have backups in place. Overcast would probably be my choice if using iOS. I wish there were more open source and privacy-friendly versions available.
-M
Im glad you are not over ambitious with your schedule. An episode every three weeks / month is a great way to keep going. I remember when privacy guides said they were going to do a “this week in privacy” which unfortunately lasted about 6 weeks. I wish you best of luck!
Appreciate the feedback! We care about producing quality rather than quantity. As I mentioned in our Welcome post, we don’t view ourselves as content creators in the contemporary sense, and we don’t want that associated pressure to constantly pump out new stuff. We hope the project gains enough international relevancy and appeal that we can bring in other contributors (which might result in more frequent episodes/posts), but for now, slow and steady is the goal.
-M
Hey, Arthur— thanks for dropping these links. Jay and I will look at these and consider your thought process, and might reach out to follow up, if that’s okay! If I may ask, what do you prefer for email and RTC?
-M
For chat, something with e2ee and without phone numbers or centralized metadata. SimpleX, Matrix, XMPP, etc - each have their own problems, but at least they aren’t centralizing everyone’s metadata with a CIA contractor like Jeff Bezos like Signal is.
For email, I’d recommend finding small-to-medium-sized operators who seem both honest and competent. Anyone offering snakeoil privacy features such as browser-based e2ee is failing in at least one of those two categories.
We’re considering moving up our timeline on a SimpleX and Matrix chat as we’ve received interest from others about that, too. Keep an eye on our website or show notes as we’ll update those when new chat channels open up.
As for email, are there specific providers you recommend we look at?
-M
I think signal, proton and tuta are totally fine for most peoples threat model unless they feel they need the extra privacy.
If we want everyone to value privacy then we need to onboard them with easy to use and accessible services first and then they can take steps further if they want.
It’s difficult enough for getting people to switch from whatsapp to signal.
I don’t know how successful i’d be to get people to switch to simplex.
Is there a particular reason that you don’t recommend signal?
What alternatives would you recommend?
