While Jitsi is open-source, most people use the platform they provide, meet.jit.si, for immediate conference calls. They have now introduced a “Know Your Customer” policy and require at least one of the attendees to log in with a Facebook, Github (Microsoft), or Google account.
One option to avoid this is to self-host, but then you’ll be identifiable via your domain and have to maintain a server.
As a true alternative to Jitsi, there’s jami.net. It is a decentralized conference app, free open-source, and account creation is optional. It’s available for all major platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android), including on F-Droid.
Criminals ruin everything.
Relax. Just use a different server. May not be exactly accurate either. How in the world do you have any idea who uses what server. I have never used this server.
One way is join the FSF and use their server. There are others or host your own too. The load and cost needs to be spread anyway.
Earlier this year we saw an increase in the number of reports we received about some people using our service in ways that we cannot tolerate. To be more clear, this was not about some people merely saying things that others disliked.
Cannot be less clear.
Anyway I don’t understand why you’d need an account. I’ve always created rooms and share the link to people to invite. You can setup a password if you want privacy. Any reason to login?
They are probably talking about using it to share CSAM or other illegal content. They need one person to login to be not anonymous so they can give it to the authorities if necessary.
But why a Google/FB/MS account? Why isn’t an email account from an established provider enough, why centralise to three megacorps?
Because these three provide federated login most email providers do not.
I didn’t think I’d unironically hear “This is an advantage because now one company controls all your logins” as a reply to privacy concerns.
I didn’t say that. Security and privacy are nearly opposites. This is a security decision.
There’s plenty of disposable email services out there.
And they’re added to spam lists all the time. All you need do is draw up a list of the twenty most popular, because frankly Gmail and outlook already cover so many while leaving room for privacy-friendly providers.
There was likely a broad campaign of abuse that violated some sorta law. There’s not really another reason for this move short of something that puts them in an untenable situation.
Those are all SaaS providers with meeting software available. If someone was using Jitsi, it was specifically to not use a login with any of those providers. They’re actively deciding not to continue operation with this. Its like when OnlyFans declares they wouldn’t allow adult content going forward
Its like when OnlyFans declares they wouldn’t allow adult content
So… Tumblr?
OnlyFans announced it too, but walked back on it later.
Yeah but at least Tumblr had a majority of non porn content. Jitsi is almost entirely privacy wonks, and only fans is almost entirely porn
Those are all SaaS providers with meeting software available.
With paid for commercial meeting software available.
If someone was using Jitsi, it was specifically to not use a login with any of those providers.
Or because they didn’t want to pay ongoing SAAS fees.
They’re actively deciding not to continue operation with this. Its like when OnlyFans declares they wouldn’t allow adult content going forward
It’s literally nothing like that since Onlyfans is not an open source project that lets you host your own instance and run it however you like.
If you want anonymity run it yourself. If you want to use their servers it’s reasonable that they expect to know a modicum about how to verify you are who you say you are. There is literally no other way to prevent abuse other than identity verification of bad actors.
It’s hypocritical to call your service “privacy friendly” and then require the use of a Google/Facebook/GitHub account to log in. I kinda understand the reason why they do this, but they could have at least allowed you to use a more private email provider.
Calling them hypocritical is hysterical when they offer all the source code for free and you can host your own instance that doesn’t need an account.
The software is free open source. But this case is not about the software. It’s about the web instance that the majority of the people was using. And that instance now lost its privacy feature and shouldn’t call itself privacy friendly anymore.
What information is transmitted to GitHub when you sign in with your GitHub account?
I’ll tell you: that you signed into jitsi.
That’s it.
Or just remove that claim
Why would federated sign-in suddenly make them non-open source.
The comment to which I replied complained that they claim their service to be privacy friendly. They didn’t complain about the open source claim, and me neither.
I guess I don’t need their app anymore on my phone, then. More free space to me.
Though using an other instance as mentioned by other comments is also an option, I think the mobile app supports that too, even if it’s a bit complicated
Edit: after reading the article, this might really not be their fault. At the end they also encourage the reader to host it themselves. They are not very transparent with what’s the actual problem, though…
Yes, the mobile app supports third-party servers, though I wouldn’t call it complicated.
If you want to join a room, all you do is type/paste the full URL to it instead of just the name. “Open in App” functionality will also work regardless of the server.
If you want to host one on a third-party server, you just go into the options and replace the “https://meet.jit.si” address with one of the third-party server. Then when you create a room, it will use that server.
Probably complicated isn’t the best word, my issue with it is that if I understand it correctly, you would always need to change the server address if you need to connect to a meeting that was created at a different server
If you paste in the complete URL to a meeting (“https://example.org/FourRandomEnglishWords” instead of “FourRandomEnglishWords”) or use the “Open in App” link that a meeting’s web page shows, then there’s no need to.
You can also use matrix. Matrix currently uses jitsi. In the future it’ll use “element call” but right now, jitsi.
Ah. Thank you. Decent work around, still more steps sadly enough, but it’ll have to do.
RIP
How disappointing.
It was great for sharing private contact info with Google/Facebook/etc friends without revealing it to those invasive services. Instead of sharing your private address where it would be harvested, you could meet in an anonymous Jitsi room, exchange addresses there, and contact each other directly from then on.
Self-hosting doesn’t solve that use case, unless perhaps you’re willing to buy throw-away domains and IP addresses every time you do it.
deleted by creator
Well looks like jitsis gone.
The sky is falling the sky is falling!
RIP Jitsi ಠ_ಠ
