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[–] 68 points 1 month ago (14 children)

They claim it's "zero knowledge" proof through Google pay, meaning that Google will know you paid Signal, and Signal knows you paid them, but there is no link between the two that uses your PII payment info to identify the Signal account. I'm inclined to believe them.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 month ago* (6 children)

    Unless you wait a good while to use what you paid for (if that's even possible), then I doubt it'd be hard to connect the dots. Never mind connecting transaction records.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    It's the exact same privacy protection as signing up with a phone number.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Not quite. With a phone number a random phone provider knows your identity. They do not get notified you are signing up for Signals. Google doesn't know you signed up with that phone number for Signals either. Depending on your country and how these details are handled there may not be an easy way to lookup who you are from a phone number.

    There's obvious downsides to the phone number use, of course, but saying it the same in terms of privacy than this, doesn't feel correct.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    There's identical security for the payment too. Assuming you trust Signal, they don't keep a record of it tied to your actual account the same with a phone number.

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