Signal Data Collection

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Signal is an open source encrypted messaging service that is frequently recommended to highly vulnerable users such as human rights activists, whistleblowers, and journalists whose lives and/or freedom can depend on their ability to maintain private and secure communication.

Since 2020 Signal has been collecting and keeping sensitive user data in the cloud while lying to their users about their data collection practices.^{[disputed tone - discuss]} Users and potential users of Signal have a right to know what data is being collected and how it is being stored and secured so that they make informed choices about the risks they are taking when using Signal.

Background

Over the years Signal has curated a reputation that they do not collect or keep data on their users.

Signal has publicly disclosed that they have received legal requests for subscriber's names, telephone numbers, histories, and contacts and Signal has said that they were unable to supply that information because it was never collected by Signal in the first place. These incidents have been reported in the media.

Signal's website states:

"We’ve designed the Signal service to minimize the data we retain about Signal users, so the only information we can produce in response to a request like this is the date and time a user registered with Signal and the last date of a user’s connectivity to the Signal service.

Notably, things we don’t have stored include anything about a user’s contacts (such as the contacts themselves, a hash of the contacts, any other derivative contact information), anything about a user’s groups (such as how many groups a user is in, which groups a user is in, the membership lists of a user’s groups), or any records of who a user has been communicating with."

Data collection begins

^{[disputed see further notices in this section, section title is misleading - discuss]}

Signal's data collection practices changed in 2019 when Signal previewed a feature they called "secure value recovery".

This new feature meant that Signal would start collecting the same kinds of information that Signal had been getting legal requests to turn over, and that Signal would keep that data in the cloud.^{[disputed feature does not store user data in the cloud like other messaging apps - discuss]} Their stated reason for doing this was so that if a Signal user got a new device they could install the app, enter a pin, and the app would pull down the user's data from cloud servers.

The data being collecting and stored in could includes: The user's name, photo, phone number, and a list of every Signal user they have contacted.^{[disputed contact discovery on Signal is private and does not share the phone number as explained later in the cited sources - discuss]} Note that the messages are not saved in the cloud.

This was a highly controversial change, and some Signal users objected on philosophical grounds, requesting that Signal instead provide a means to export encrypted backups that could be imported locally eliminating any need to upload data to the cloud. Signal users also raised technical concerns about the security of the system and doubts that it would protect their data. Some of these concerns were also shared by cybersecurity-experts and security researchers demonstrated that the system was vulnerable to attacks which allowed them to access the user data being stored.^{[disputed "In recent weeks, Signal has introduced more features that make it more user friendly to people who may not have extremely paranoid threat models. For example, it’s now possible to migrate all Signal data, including message history, from one phone to another, using a feature that does not rely on cloud servers and is also encrypted, according to Signal. " - discuss]}

There were also complaints specific to the implementation of the new pin feature, for example how often it required users to re-enter their PIN, or how it would make it harder to convince friends and family to use the app, but ultimately the problem is that Signal's new data collection practices introduced new risks for Signal users that didn't exist before. Signal's failure to update their website/privacy policy means that Signal users, including those who are diligent enough to check over Signal's privacy policy, can still be left unaware of Signal's change in data collection practices and the new risks introduced by it, leaving them deprived of the opportunity to decide for themselves if the risks of using Signal are acceptable for them in their circumstances.

Signal's response

Signal was not convinced to abandon this data collection and they began to roll out the change in 2020 without clear communication about the new feature.^{[disputed tone - discuss][disputed include the response to the hysteria and a proper explanation of the feature - discuss]} It resulted in a lot of confusion for users, many of whom only learned about this feature when they were prompted to create a PIN. There were many social media posts expressing confusion over what the feature was and what it was doing. Even years after the change was made some Signal users were/are still unsure about what data Signal collects or were/are convinced that Signal doesn't collect any data at all.

This confusion is understandable,^{[disputed tone - discuss]} since Signal's own website continues to state that they do not collect the information they are collecting. The first line of their "Terms & Privacy Policy" page reads: "Signal is designed to never collect or store any sensitive information."

This lie^{[disputed tone - discuss]} is also repeated on their support page under the heading: How do I know my communication is private

There is no indication on Signal's older pages, which claim they don't collect this information, that the data collection policy discussed on those pages is now outdated either. Examples include:

"Signal is designed to never collect or store any sensitive information. " - https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059412-Signal-and-the-General-Data-Protection-Regulation-GDPR

"The Signal service does not have any knowledge of your contacts. Data is all owned by your phone." - https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007061452-Does-Signal-send-my-number-to-my-contacts

"In addition to the end-to-end encryption that protects every Signal message, the Signal service is designed to minimize the data that is retained about Signal users. By design, it does not store a record of your contacts, social graph, conversation list, location, user avatar, user profile name, group memberships, group titles, or group avatars." - https://signal.org/blog/sealed-sender/

"Notably, things we don’t have stored include anything about a user’s contacts (such as the contacts themselves, a hash of the contacts, any other derivative contact information), anything about a user’s groups (such as how many groups a user is in, which groups a user is in, the membership lists of a user’s groups), or any records of who a user has been communicating with." - https://signal.org/bigbrother/eastern-virginia-grand-jury/

"Because we’ve built Signal to completely avoid storing any sensitive information...." - https://signal.org/blog/looking-back-as-the-world-moves-forward/

Requests have been made for Signal to update their policy following the change in data collection.

Workarounds

While some social media posts and articles suggested that opting out of setting a pin would prevent a user's data from being uploaded to the cloud, this is not the case. When a Signal user sets a pin, their data is uploaded to the cloud and secured using SVR, however when a user chooses to "opt-out", a pin is automatically created for them instead, their data is encrypted and then uploaded to Signal's Storage Service. User who "opt-out" won't know the pin that was created for them, will not be able to use SVR to recover their profile and contact info on a new device, but the data is uploaded to the cloud regardless. There is currently no way for a Signal user to prevent their data from being uploaded and stored in the cloud.