My fear with Signal being so giddy about what they don't have is that it will convince Congress to make a law forcing them to collect the data they don't have, the laws of math be damned.
I worry that Congress with just make them liable if they are requested to produce location data and are unable to do so, for example.
As a Signal user it does not make me happy either that they seem to enjoy thwarting law enforcement for its own sake. I'm not a criminal. I just enjoy privacy and good software. I don't enjoy thumbing my nose at the justice department when they're just trying to do their job protecting citizens from criminals.
Signal, just follow the law and quit acting so happy whenever your software helps a criminal get away with criming. It's not a good look.
The problem is prosecuters have a history of seeing just how much they can get away with (just like cops, except they have the power to shoot you in the face). Your attitude is a bad one, because "they're just trying to do their jobs" has been used for centuries to advocate for the government to take more and more freedom away from citizens because it "makes their policing powers easier". I'm sure the Stasi liked it that their police powers were quite ample, but it doesn't make it right.
Exactly. And everyone probably knows a particular junction where the Stop sign is waaaay more of a guideline than a rule and when there's no traffic there's little point in following it - expending expensive (for the wallet as well as the planet) dinosaur juice - just to adhere to the principle of following laws to the letter.
Traffic is probably one of the easiest examples where disobeying the law makes a ton of sense multiple times per day/week.
I would not want any entity to be able to track my history of these kinds of felonies committed multiple times per week (not related to Signal though, but keeping track in general).
And don't get me started on drugs. Crime has gone down a lot by decriminalizing marijuana for example. "Crime".
Signal is complying with the law in this case, and the lack of information in their response is not "thwarting law enforcement for its own sake" but the entire purpose of end-to-end encryption.
Software that allows the possibility of cops spying on you is antithetical to "privacy and good software"
I worry that Congress with just make them liable if they are requested to produce location data and are unable to do so, for example.