RCS is just SMS experience through Google’s servers, just like what you have with iMessage. It may even be worse in term of what the companies extracts from your messages. Only usage I could see is if you want to use a matrix bridge that only works with RCS, like Beeper (since Apple does not enjoy users signing in with the iMessage bridge)
Oher than that, I enjoyed RCS messages when I was a Google fanboi and did not care about privacy. It still offers a better “security” than regular SMS, but you chose to deliver your texts to Google
Well not really, it’s a good way to do a IDN homograph attack
Ok thank you so much. What I would like to point at in the difference between having an end-to-end encryption between two recipients and at-rest encryption for information owned by Signal (in this example), is the purpose of those two different things. E2E encryption means only the two agents at each end have the mathematical possibility to decrypt the info: this is privacy by design. At-rest encryption on Signal servers of different things is a security layer meant to protect users’ privacy against attackers, but Signal have the means to decrypt it, and they would do it in the normal usage of the service. This would also mean they can (and have to) transmit decrypted information to whatever agency demand them to
Thank you for that info and the link I’ll go into that. Just to summarize, if you have the knowledge and time: this is at-rest encryption? I’m not sure how it could be end-to-end encryption and at the same time enable to start new conversations with other Signal users / discovery based on name / phone number
Nope only the message content is encrypted. So what they have unencrypted is of course your personal information (phone number etc), all your contacts, and the list of all messages sent (datetime, and contact or contacts). This enable them to have a great social map that evolves after each message sent
And that is if the encryption remain unbroken. Don’t forget that the NSA has a history of placing backdors in cryptography schemes (like that mathematically flawed key based on a weak elliptic curve, standardized and approved by the NSA after they found their exploit)
Is this about message content security or privacy?
I would love to have more insights on Beeper actual privacy. But one think to keep in mind is that they are subject to Cloud Act.
Specifically for OP: since you post on this privacy focused community but also are not very clear with your intent, I just want to remind that Signal is not the best messaging app when it comes to privacy, especially because of its close relation to CIA
It’s crazy to fear for Chinese espionage/tracking more than European or US one