from Hacker News

Jeffrey Goldberg on the Group Chat That Broke the Internet

by thm on 3/26/25, 11:45 AM with 19 comments

  • by legitster on 3/26/25, 12:47 PM

    The relatability of this story is what gives it legs.

    Everyone likes to imagine this kind of stuff is done by operators acting in American interests with a steady hand on the wheel. But it turns out decisions about life and death are being made using shallow analysis by a list of unqualified political insiders with the level of care given to organizing a fantasy football league.

    I can't think of a better parable about technology. We have removed massive barriers and instilled ease of use. We have also created complacency and instilled recklessness. Add in the political elements and this is a seminal 21st century moment.

  • by comrade1234 on 3/26/25, 12:27 PM

    The binaries for signal that come down from the apple/google stores are different than when built from the source code yourself. As much as a 5MB difference. So who knows if it’s even secure in the first place.

  • by ChrisArchitect on 3/26/25, 2:09 PM

  • by linusg789 on 3/26/25, 12:01 PM

  • by dave333 on 3/26/25, 5:31 PM

    Reminds me of the Enron guys labelling themselves the smartest guys in the room right before they went bust.

  • by hnpolicestate on 3/26/25, 12:16 PM

    Why wouldn't the United States employ DARPA or the NSA to create a non-commercial mobile communications platform for high ranking government employees? Is signal in bed with the government? I must not be technical enough to understand the reasoning.

  • by mc32 on 3/26/25, 12:26 PM

    He’s making most of his 15 minutes. He’s now walking back the “war plans” characterization of the chat.

    Yes these intel guys and gals certainly should be spanked to improve their operatsec. That’s inexcusable, but this guy is squeezing the most he can out of the story.

    Signal is an approved app. The prior admin also used it for non classified discussions.

    Whoever invited that putz accidentally into the chat needs to be fired.