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Adding usernames to a messaging app may seem like a standard feature of speech , but for Signal , such identifiers were anathema to its mission of total privateness and security — until now . The coming 7.0 version contribute usernames , but the company ’s president , Meredith Whittaker , explained that this was nowhere near as elementary a decision as it may voice .
The fresh feature film sounds simple : You register a username and that appears or else of your phone identification number . But why do this at all when everyone already has contact name calling , and Signal is totally private anyway ?
In an audience onstage at StrictlyVC LA , Whittaker excuse the wind - up and complications that attend to what they believe is a crucial newfangled shelter .
“ rent me start by kind of explain that with an example . In India recently , it has become a requirement , in ordination to find a SIM card , to resign to a biometric facial recognition scan . That is not just materialize in India , we ’re seeing a bit of jurisdiction where to receive a earpiece turn , you are postulate to put up more and more personal information . Some , in some topographic point like Taiwan , that is linked to government activity ID databases that often get breached and cause a passel of problems , ” she enunciate .
This is n’t so much a job in the U.S. , where there are burner and SIMs aplenty , though private information is also available on secret market . But around the world , this trend is accelerate , she said :
“ A request we got frequently from journalists in conflict zone , and from human rightfulness workers , was like : Hey , we love it , but the phone number is a real issue for us . We want to be capable to speak with people without sharing this data . We need to be in groups of strangers where we ’re not afraid that they can scrape that . And we need to be able to lead up conversations with others without sharing our phone number , because again , that , that ’s my biostatistics , that ’s everything else , and that can leak out a significant amount of data . ”
Essentially , Signal ’s chase after reliance on a perdurable and increasingly non - secret identifier , phone number , was shifting from a legitimate production choice to a serious threat to a significant number of user . They decided they needed to add an optional bafflement stratum without adversely impact usability or security .
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“ So we fundamentally turned our architecture inside - out to support this , and to support it in a way of life that I ’m really proud of , ” Whittaker said .
The clutch move was to implement usernames without saddling Signal with new , large - musical scale relief obligation .
“ As Signal we do not want to take duty for subject matter — we are not entering into the mental object adjudication job . But of course , with usernames , traditionally , you make a new namespace , right ? You create something that you , in core , have to supervise , perhaps police , perhaps ban . ”
It ’s a problem that far turgid establishment have trouble addressing , as millions or billions of users cross-file and change names that could in themselves be principle rape — a name is just a short chain , and can as easily be “ RainbowBubbles ” as it can be “ Kill_all_[insert slur here ] . ” Impersonation , scams , all kinds of issues are equally potential in username fields as they are in post or profile William Claude Dukenfield .
Signal ’s solution to this is , basically , to eliminate the direction these methods get harm at scurf , rather than trying to preclude them altogether .
“ We did what I would say is a sort of safety by design way that allowed us to rest very reliable to our principles , which is we just do n’t take on that employment , ” Whittaker explained . But this is n’t just at total stepping down of their role as owner of the weapons platform .
“ We ’re unwilling to , you have it off , produce a auction block tilt or other things to sort of determine what is and is not appropriate . But we ’re also unwilling to create fresh airfoil for harm , right ? Like , we recognize that that can be a real issue . So what are we going to do ? We ’re going to design it so that we ’ve minimized or , I believe , eliminated the harm space , ” she continued .
“ The user name is not a handle . It ’s not indicate inside the app ; it ’s not something we have a directory for . But it replaces the phone numeral when you go to initiate contact . ” ( Signal does append numeral to chosen usernames to secure they are unique . )
In other words , the system is far more limited than the public profile or junk e-mail you might get on other platform that have usernames as the canonical identifier for users .
or else , the username allow for a way to simultaneously identify and conceal oneself ; someone requesting it sire all the welfare of Signal ’s phone issue requirement but few of the risks of username exploitations . You only get the username if you inquire for it , which shift obligation to the users without compromise their needs or preferential capacitance .
“ I think there ’s actually kind of a paradigm around safe design with integrity that we ’re pushing forward as we add a very all-important layer of privacy to the app , ” she concluded .
Signal now lets you keep your phone act private with the launching of usernames
The new featurewill be available in the Signal 7.0 client . “ And if you ’re a beta substance abuser , you may go in and lay claim your username now , ” Whittaker added . “ If you ’re about that . ”
And you may see the full interview below :
