Signal has started rolling out Signal Login, an optional registration method that allows users to create a Signal account without providing a phone number. The feature will be rolled out first on Android and will come to iOS later.
As we previously reported, Signal Login is not a free alternative registration method. Signal requires users who choose to register without a phone number to make a one-time payment. The price at launch is $2.99 / € 3.49, although this may vary by region and currency.
Still depends on Google? Into the trash bin it goes.
Hopefully they can adopt FOSS payment methods soon. I’ve heard good things about Taler, but am still waiting for a good reason (in terms of commerce support) to use it.
You don’t want to have to use a payment method at all… the problem with not having a phone number is there is no way to tie the account to someone who is responsible for the content, and Signal does not want the liability nor the spam traffic, of potentially harmful traffic (in whatever sense that may mean).
Or if you want the tinfoil hat response… they need/want to tie your account to a real identity for surveillance purposes, and they can’t do that if there is no phone number, so they use a payment record instead. (I made all that up and have no idea if it’s true)
They’re using zero-knowledge proofs for the payments so they can’t link the account to the credit card used to pay it.
Zero-knowledge proofs as a concept sound sus to me. How do you prove that you don’t know something? The fact of being tested already means you know of it. What’s a good writeup n how Signal does it? And how can a user of Signal test or certify it?