zlacker

[return to "Privacy is priceless, but Signal is expensive"]
1. Duneda+Z[view] [source] 2023-11-16 16:22:44
>>mikece+(OP)
> Storage: $1.3 million dollars per year.

> Servers: $2.9 million dollars per year.

> Registration Fees: $6 million dollars per year.

> Total Bandwidth: $2.8 million dollars per year.

> Additional Services: $700,000 dollars per year.

Signal pays more for delivering verification SMS during sign-up, than for all other infrastructure (except traffic) combined. Wow, that sounds excessive.

◧◩
2. munk-a+58[view] [source] 2023-11-16 16:52:09
>>Duneda+Z
SMS rates are absolutely bonkers considering the technical way they're transmitted. The US is an outlier in SMS rates actually being reasonable (usually unlimited or close to) for consumers - but for the rest of the world the insane mark up on that communication method has mostly obsoleted it...

That'd be all well and good... the technology would die naturally, but all my American relatives continue to stubbornly use iMessage.

◧◩◪
3. renonc+Il[view] [source] 2023-11-16 17:43:03
>>munk-a+58
For the purpose of 2FA and account registration let’s view it as a tax for fraud prevention, where the real value in SMS is in verifying someone’s identity rather than transmitting messages
◧◩◪◨
4. peanut+hz[view] [source] 2023-11-16 18:47:07
>>renonc+Il
If SMS actually worked for this purpose, it would be acceptable. However, SMS provides no guarantees about: 1) If it actually gets delivered 2) If it is delivered to the intended recipient 3) 1 and 2 without anyone reading or tampering the message while in transit

Now, even if stars align, your SMS ends up on a route where nobody is mitm-ing or hijacking it, the telco systems work and it gets delivered, it is STILL not a guarantee of identity. It simply verifies that you have somehow got access to a particular phone number.

[go to top]