blog: Why I use Telegram?
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layout: post
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comments: true
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title: "Why I use Telegram?"
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category: [english]
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tags: [english, IRC, Telegram, security, privacy]
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redirect_from: /whytelegram.html
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---
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*I get often asked why do I use Telegram even if it's known to have bad
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crypto. The answer is that crypto doesn't always matter.*
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The main reason is usernames, I can take one and share it to people for
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them to contact me instead of giving my phone number to everyone. This
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also applies to groups where people see only the name and optionally
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username, not the phone number (like at [WhatsApp] and possibly [Signal]).
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This makes [Telegram] somewhat more open version of [Slack] as anyone can
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join public groups without being invited by email address, public link
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or invite link that group creator can get.
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[Telegram] also is cross-platform and welcomes third party clients unlike
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[WhatsApp] and Signal (which gives me the impression of being a little more
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transparent WhatsApp *[reason](https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37#issuecomment-217211165)*).
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The official clients are open source (but like Android the source code
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always seems to be released some time after the release) and there are
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unofficial clients for [Sailfish OS] and [Ubuntu Touch].
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And back to the [bad crypto], I don't see what it matters if Telegram can
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read the messages I send with cloud chat or attacker the secret chat
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messages if the same groups there are on [Facebook] where [Facebook] can
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read all the messages or the groups are [relayed to IRC] where most of
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people sadly connect using plain text connection and send the plaintext
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around the internet where anyone at correct position could read the
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messages.
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If we compare [Telegram] to [IRC], [Telegram] immediately has the
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advatance of being in groups/online receiving messages always since you
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join the group. With [IRC] you would disconnect and join all the time when
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you power off your devices unless you have took the time to learn using
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shells (terminal multiplexer, CLI IRC client) or bouncers.
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It seems like IRC has very little requirements (without shell/bouncer), but
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Telegram only requires phone number for logging in / registering and you
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can do that on any client even [web.telegram.org](https://web.telegram.org)
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and you see the same (not secret chat) messages on all clients. One could
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argue that SMS verification is insecure, but you can enable two factor
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authentication from the settings and enable password that you will always
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be asked for in addition to the SMS/Telegram code.
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* * * * *
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But what if you need the stronger crypto? If you only communicate with
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Android/iOS users, [Signal] might work for you, if you also need to
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communicate with Windows Phone users, you must probably use [WhatsApp]
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where most of your family/friends most likely already are.
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Most universal protocol would probably be [XMPP] and you can use e2e
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encryption with it either by [OTR], [OpenPGP] or [OMEMO] where [OMEMO]
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is at time of writing only supported by [Conversations], (Android-only,
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[free on F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=conversations&fdid=eu.siacs.conversations))
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and [Gajim], (cross-platform desktop client).
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*PS. I encourage using some of the other options instead of having very
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private/secret dicussions on [Telegram] as it's always possible to give
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your number or [XMPP] ID and send people to contact you there. If you need
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XMPP ID, try [podupti.me](https://podupti.me/) where you will also get a
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Diaspora\* account. (Note that not all pods have XMPP enabled, check the
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services offered.)*
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*PPS. I am somewhat unhappy with this post as it looks worse than I
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imagined, but [improving pull requests are always welcome](https://github.com/Mikaela/mikaela.github.io/edit/master/_posts/2016-05-21-why-telegram.md).*
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[WhatsApp]:https://www.whatsapp.com/
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[Signal]:https://whispersystems.org/
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[Slack]:https://slack.com/
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[Telegram]:https://telegram.org/
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[Sailfish OS]:https://github.com/Dax89/harbour-sailorgram
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[Ubuntu Touch]:https://uappexplorer.com/app/com.ubuntu.telegram:
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[Facebook]:https://facebook.com/
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[IRC]:http://ircv3.net/
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[XMPP]:https://xmpp.org/
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[OTR]:https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/
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[OpenPGP]:https://gnupg.org/
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[OMEMO]:https://conversations.im/omemo/
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[Conversations]:https://conversations.im/
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[Gajim]:https://gajim.org/
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[bad crypto]:http://security.stackexchange.com/a/49802
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[relayed to IRC]:https://github.com/FruitieX/teleirc
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