• poVoq@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    What I explained is commonly done by law-enforcement agencies to get search warrants and permission to install trojans on devices of a relatively large number of suspects. Having your phone number registered with Signal, having been near a certain place and at a certain time + being male and 20 something years old is usually sufficient to get permission to do so by a judge as these three metadata points significantly narrow down the number of suspects.

    Luckily law-enforcement agencies in most countries don’t go around torturing large amounts of people on very weak indications that they might have been somehow within 5km of a protest or crime.

    • Palaress@lemmy.161.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 years ago

      What does having Signal installed has to do with tracking down and installing a Trojan?

      I don’t think that they will track only track you down for using Signal, and if they are they still will install a Trojan even without Signal installed on your phone.

      • poVoq@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        3 years ago

        Hence my comment about more detailed explanation. Of course only having Signal installed will not get you on a list of suspects for being targeted for trojan installation by law-enforcement.

        But it is a significant metadata point and also further security risk for related persons once you are being targeted, and one that is totally unnecessary as there are equally good messengers that do not require phone-number use at all.