Hi Eric! Big fan of Beeper, Pebble, and hopefully the yet-to-be small android phone. I had some questions that I was ill-equipped to answer, and hoped I could throw them your way!
When I installed beeper, I mentioned it to my friends that I was using it as a bridge for Signal. They threw a pretty big conniption about the implementation and the fact that all our messages were being routed through an unknown server in Germany with source code we could not read or audit (the Synapse/Matrix server beeper.com, as I understand it).
There were also some unfounded tinfoil-hat allegations that Beeper is an intelligence honeypot meant to slurp up all Signal encrypted comms that pass through its Matrix bridge, before forwarding them (although I don't give those any credence)
What reassurances might I be able to provide them? The UX for the Signal app has been going somewhat downhill as of late and I'd like to keep using Beeper if I can assuage their fears.
Thanks for the response! I don't think I phrased my question properly, since they were mostly concerned about what kind of access the beeper.com matrix server has. If I set up my own bridge, it will still send all of my messages to e.g. @dabluecaboose:beeper.com, right? Their concern was what's happening in the Matrix server that's hosting my account, not as much the bridge.
All messages are encrypted by the bridge before being sent to the matrix homeserver. Homeserver cannot read or see any message contents. If you want to self host everything, including the homeserver, you can do this: https://github.com/beeper/self-host
Thanks! Appreciate the responses. I'll forward things to the interested parties. They're already all atwitter about the potential for a direct Signal reimplementation like the imessage one. That might just be the ticket!
When I installed beeper, I mentioned it to my friends that I was using it as a bridge for Signal. They threw a pretty big conniption about the implementation and the fact that all our messages were being routed through an unknown server in Germany with source code we could not read or audit (the Synapse/Matrix server beeper.com, as I understand it).
There were also some unfounded tinfoil-hat allegations that Beeper is an intelligence honeypot meant to slurp up all Signal encrypted comms that pass through its Matrix bridge, before forwarding them (although I don't give those any credence)
What reassurances might I be able to provide them? The UX for the Signal app has been going somewhat downhill as of late and I'd like to keep using Beeper if I can assuage their fears.