Instant Messaging: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:24, 16 July 2025

Instant messaging (IM) is a technology that allows messages to be transmitted instantly. This article will focus on comparing features and privacy concerns between IM solutions.

IM Solutions

IM can be found in social media apps like Discord, Instagram, Whatsapp, Telegram and many others but its usually thru the use of a protocol. The most common protocol for IM is XMPP, though other options exist like IRC and WebRTC.

Privacy Concerns

On every IM solution there will always be data stored on the server about their users and messages, and some might not even have end-to-end encryption, which makes it harder to have a private conversation over the internet. Furthermore, some servers might leak metadata which in some cases can be enough to track an individual.

Software Comparison

Software	E2EE	Federated	License	Data Collected	Metadata
XMPP	Optional (OMEMO/PGP)	Yes	Depends on server/client	JID (Jabber ID) messages (can be encrypted) timestamps IP (depends on server) Message history (depends on server config)	JID Client name Presence
Matrix	Optional (MEGOLM)	Yes	Depends on server/client	Matrix user ID Email (depends on server) IP adress	timestamps IP addresses Presence Everyone present in the room
Signal	Yes (signal protocol)	No	AGPL-3.0 (server), GPL3 (client and protocol)	IP adress Phone Number	timestamp of last connection contacts (hashed) date of registration

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 ==IM Solutions==
-IM can be found in social media apps like Discord, Instagram, Whatsapp, Telegram and many others but its usually thru the use of a protocol. The most common protocol for IM is XMPP, though other options exist like IRC and WebRTC.
+IM can be found in social media apps like Discord, Instagram, Whatsapp, Telegram and many others but its usually thru the use of a protocol. The most common protocol for IM is [[XMPP]], though other options exist like IRC and WebRTC.
 ==Privacy Concerns==
-On every IM solution there will always be metadata stored on every message, and some might not even have end-to-end encryption, which makes it harder to have a private conversation over the internet.
+On every IM solution there will always be data stored on the server about their users and messages, and some might not even have end-to-end encryption, which makes it harder to have a private conversation over the internet. Furthermore, some servers might leak metadata which in some cases can be enough to track an individual.
-The table bellow compares the privacy concerns of IM solution. Metadata shared, E2EE, if its federated, if its open source (clients and/or servers)
+===Software Comparison===
 {| class="wikitable"
-! Software !! E2EE !! Federated !! License !! Metadata
+! Software !! E2EE !! Federated !! License !! Data Collected !! Metadata
 |-
-| XMPP || Optional (OMEMO/PGP) || Yes || Depends on server/client || JID of who send and who received the message <br> message content (can be encrypted)<br> timestamp
+| XMPP || Optional (OMEMO/PGP) || Yes || Depends on server/client || JID (Jabber ID)<br>messages (can be encrypted)<br>timestamps<br>IP (depends on server)<br>Message history (depends on server config) || JID<br>Client name<br>Presence
 |-
-| Matrix || Optional || Yes || Depends on server/client || Matrix IDs <br>Email addresses/phone numbers added to a user’s settings <br>Profile name and avatar of users.<br>Message content
+| Matrix || Optional (MEGOLM) || Yes || Depends on server/client || Matrix user ID<br>Email (depends on server)<br>IP adress || timestamps<br>IP addresses<br>Presence<br>Everyone present in the room
 |-
-| Signal || Yes (based on OTR/SCIMP) || No || AGPL-3.0 (spam detection source code not public) || Date of account registration and date of most recent login.
+| Signal || Yes (signal protocol) || No || AGPL-3.0 (server), GPL3 (client and protocol) || IP adress<br>Phone Number || timestamp of last connection<br>contacts (hashed)<br>date of registration
 |}
+==References==
+===XMPP===
+* https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0313.html
+* https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0446.html
+* https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0084.html
+===Matrix===
+* https://wire.com/en/blog/matrix-not-safe-eu-data-privacy
+* https://hackea.org/notas/matrix.html
+* https://forum.hackliberty.org/t/why-we-abandoned-matrix-the-dark-truth-about-user-security-and-safety/224
+* https://gist.github.com/subpub/cbaa02ae2ec56ff19e63ea7126a78b7f
+===Signal===
+* https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/1013.pdf
+===Metadata===
+* https://www.tdp.cat/issues16/tdp.a308a18.pdf