Submission
# Delta Chat for Anarchists
I’m really happy about the enormous success of Signal and how it’s the unquestionable default when it comes to securely connecting and scheming with each other online. Signal really shines at what it does, and I don’t see a reason for us to stop using it. But I’ve noticed that the centralized nature of Signal can be a bit limiting for us at times, so I think we should all take a closer look at Delta Chat [1] and experiment with it.
Delta Chat is similar to Signal in a lot of ways. It’s an open source chat app where messages are securely encrypted, but I think it has two features that makes it an excellent alternative for us anarchists:
## Creating multiple anonymous accounts is easy
Signal is so ubiquitous that it’s often used in a lot of contexts these days. It can range from catching up with friends to actions that can get you arrested. Some people even use it for work! And for most of us the only thing we have control over is our display names because creating a secondary account on Signal isn’t obvious or straightforward to begin with.
You would need another phone number (through Google Voice, jmp.chat, etc.) and you would also need a separate instance of Signal running as well (either on burner phone or through Android’s work profile feature).
Delta Chat on the other hand lets you create as many accounts as you need [2] without providing any other details like a working phone number or an email address. If you wanted to create separate accounts for all your affinity groups, you can definitely do that right in the app. People are also able to create these accounts while using a VPN or the Tor network for added privacy.
## The community has ownership of the servers
Delta Chat doesn’t own and control the servers like Signal does–they’re all independently run by volunteers. Basically people offering mutual aid in the form of bits and bytes! And if you don’t trust these people, you can easily set up a server for you and your pals if you have some Linux experience.
I think the biggest benefit of community-owned servers is it’s harder for states to snoop and control and block our communications. Recently, Roskomnadzor requested Delta Chat for user data, metadata, and decryption keys [3], but they can’t do that even if they wanted to because they don’t have that information in the first place.
Of course, no app can be a substitute for meeting in person. But I think we should keep a close eye on technology that gives us more control and autonomy vs letting large centralized organizations make the decisions for us.
Have fun out there!
[1]: https://delta.chat/en/
[2]: https://delta.chat/en/chatmail
[3]: https://chaos.social/@delta/112608426988613191%
