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In these devastating days of war we have received on our own Telegram group the question several times: what is Briar? The application recommended by Assange 1? Effectively Briar is an application that we know very well: it is in fact present in one of our very first articles: Alternatives to Google Messages.
At the time, but we think that the choice is still valid today, we inserted Briar between alternatives to Google Messages and not between alternatives to WhatsApp. Briar It's a messaging application through and through, however it has such unique features that we definitely don't think it's suitable for everyday use.
So why is Briar recommended by Assange?
The reason why we are writing this article is precisely to differentiate things and to try to clarify the ideas of those who may have read around "Assange recommends Briar” and started thinking: “how how? And therefore it should no longer be used Signal or Matrix?”.
Briar it is designed exactly for extreme situations, like the one the Ukrainians are experiencing. We have long memories and although many probably don't remember it Briar hit the headlines already in 2019 during the protests in Hong Kong 2.
Even in that case the situation was very tense and there was a real risk that the repression of the Chinese dictatorship could definitively close access to traditional messaging applications (which are already normally not treated well). 3) or even the internet. AND Briar became very famous and used among the protesters.
What is Briar? The application recommended by Assange
But how does Briar work? And why do we think it shouldn't be used every day instead of WhatsApp or similar? Briar is designed exactly to be used in risky situations.
As you can see from this simple graphical representation made by the developers of Briar, the application It works both without internet and online. Thanks to the Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection it is in fact possible to create a sort of independent network even if censorship permanently cuts the internet connection.
Before anyone is wondering: Wi-Fi obviously means the protocol and not "that you are connected to the internet via Wi-Fi". To explain even better: you can disconnect your smartphone from the internet and thanks to the Wi-Fi connection (or, precisely, Bluetooth) you can reach who is relatively close to you and has a smartphone with Briar installed.
When the internet is present instead Briar exchanges messages using the Tor network. In the absence of internet, messages are sent and synchronized via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. When a person who has Briar installed moves away and manages to reach a place with the internet, their messages synchronize (always via Tor) managing to carry the message received farther.
On Briar you can chat with a single person or create private groups. The messages are end-to-end encrypted And there is no central server: messages are indeed exchanged peer to peer 4. This means that it is difficult (not impossible) to stop, even if you are literally under the bombs. Briar it is also, as you can imagine, Open source 5.
What is Briar? The application recommended by Assange but not for everyone and not without a real threat
As mentioned however, is an application designed to be used in extreme situations or in any case by journalists and activists with a very high risk of being identified or controlled. Use it in Italy right now as a daily application instead of WhatsApp for people common It makes very little sense for several reasons:
- it doesn't exist on Apple, so in the meantime let's cut out all the people who have an iPhone;
- it does not work via address book or nickname search: each contact must be added manually via a unique link or, if you are nearby, via QR code;
- there is no backup of chats;
- the two people talking must be online (or close) at the same time at some point. Since there is no central server that can distribute your message, it is only sent if both people are online (via Tor) or nearby (Bluetooth or Wi-Fi). If you send a message to a person with a cell phone turned off and then you turn yours off, this person will never receive your message.
Continue using Signal or, better yet, Matrix
It always depends on your threat model but in Italy to have a good dose of security at the messaging level at the moment it is certainly enough Signal or Element/Matrix. As you can see, we don't mention Telegram because on Telegram the chats are not end-to-end encrypted (and it is almost difficult to find a way to do so) so in terms of general security it is a step below the other two mentioned. But as we have already seen in our article What are the differences between Whatsapp, Signal and Telegram? There are many reasons to use Telegram but it is always important to know its limits.
Very small digression on this topic: several personalities including Moxie (former 6 CEO of Signal) and Eva Galperin (director of information security at EFF) they asked themselves what the role of Telegram could be in Ukraine and Russia in this dramatic moment. According to Moxie, in fact, the media (and often also Telegram itself) let the message pass that Telegram is a "super-secret and super-secure" application 7. In Ukraine it was one of the most used applications 8 and right now in those places using an application that doesn't just send end-to-end encrypted messages is a very high risk 9. Especially if you do it believing the opposite.
Of course, Moxie is also the former CEO of Signal, a competitor application to Telegram. But also the director of cybersecurity at EFF wanted to expose his legitimate doubts through this very interesting article published on EFF: Telegram Harm Reduction for Users in Russia and Ukraine.
Briar and the Play Store
Another discordant note that we want to tell you about is what happened at Briar just at the moment when it was important to be there. In the midst of the Russian attack on Ukraine, on February 28, and at the very moment when many Ukrainians had learned about and were downloading Briar, this is deleted from the Play Store! The developers themselves declare it with an announcement on their blog 10.
The reason, again according to the developers, was that they had not provided a test username and password to Google's review team. But Briar doesn't need an actual registration and therefore they could independently put any type of username and password that would be fine. It is therefore likely that an automatic mechanism actually blocked an application that at that moment could really have been truly fundamental.
Fortunately, the removal did not last long and during the same day the application was restored after complaints from the developers. In the meantime, up F-Droid, obviously Briar had always remained available (that's why we always recommend you use it).
Briar it's not the only application Open source to have had difficult moments in the Play Store: let's remember for example the Catima's misadventures told by its developer and the more recent ones by StreetComplete.
The conclusions
Briar is therefore suitable in those situations where there is a concrete risk that the internet may fail for any reason. It is therefore good to know it, it is good to inform yourself and it is excellent to know that it exists. Maybe if you really want it could also be a good idea to simply have it installed on your smartphone since it doesn't take up much space anyway. Even because it would be advisable to download it when internet is still present though on F-Droid you can share APKs, i.e. installation packages, with people close to you very easily, did you know that?
We hope we have clarified things a little and as always if you have any doubts you can find us here Telegram, on Matrix or even up Feddit (you can find us everywhere actually but we prefer here).
• • • •- WikiLeaks on Twitter, Nitter link[↩]
- Hong Kong Protesters Are Using This 'Mesh' Messaging App—But Should They Trust It?[↩]
- Encrypted messaging app Signal appears to be blocked in China[↩]
- intended to provide secure and resilient peer-to-peer communications with no centralized servers[↩]
- source code of Briar[↩]
- He leaves CEO of the Signal app, in his place former founder of WhatsApp[↩]
- Tweet by Moxie, Nitter link[↩]
- Tweet by Moxie, Nitter link[↩]
- Tweet by Eva Galperin, Nitter link[↩]
- Briar was briefly removed from Google Play[↩]
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