Like how private are they?
They’re not.
Thanks! I never noticed that before!
They are saved in plaintext in the database but cannot be accessed by mods or admins unless reported (or having database access). For private communication you should use something like Matrix.
Signal FTW!
closed platform, use matrix or something where you control the line.
I thought it was open source, no?
Yes Signal is open source, but it’s still a closed centralized platform. You could spin it up yourself of course, but it wouldn’t be able to interact with others spinned up in any way, which is why everyone just uses the “official” Signal servers and applications.
Matrix is a open standard protocol like IRC or XMPP. Anybody can integrate Matrix into their software (varying levels of difficulty) and it will be able to communicate with all other matrix software.
Admins almost certainty have database access.
Not if we speak about admins in the context of Lemmy instances. I, for example, am admin at feddit.de. Yet only the owner has access to the VPS running the software and I am stuck with the options the Lemmy UI (or API) gives me.
To clarify, by “admin” I mean the owner of the instance server, not necessarily people being granted admin privileges.
Point is they are not private.
Yeah we can agree on that.
I use SimpleX for all private communications. Best secure messenger out there, imho.
It depends. On facebook messenger? Not private at all. On signal? As private as it gets
Were you thinking about some service in particular?
Yeah, I mean on lemmy.
Wait, we have DMs here on lemmy?
Not private - https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/18079
When it says that ‘the instance admin’ can read anything, remember that federation means anyone can be admin of their instance
