Due to the nature of DNM communication is key and what I keep seeing is the speed at which we communicate on DNM typically between vendor & buyer is significantly slower than how we communicate outside of the DNMs. This leads to a lot of FUD that may or may not be unwarranted.
So my question is what instant message client do you use if at at all? From what I gather the Tor Messenger is for the most part still in development. And another article here.
Some other options I've found:
- Ricochet - Looks pretty legit actually. The latest version is 1.1.0 (April 10, 2015)
- TorChat - No updates in 3 years so probably unsafe.
- IRC
Personally I think a lot of the issues vendor & buyers could be eliminated by a secure instant messaging app and interested to hear what you guys think. I think if we could get behind an app we could see some serious improvements within the DNM.
EDIT 1:
Here are some other clients recommended from the comments:
surespot thanks to /u/honestlyimeanreallyCOMPROMISEDOpen Whisper Systems TextSecure Thanks to /u/al_eber Also note worthy, it's endorsed by a Mr. E Snowden
Wickr thanks to /u/BlossomingBeelzebub & /u/plasmoske
EDIT 2:
Those interested in setting up a client you will need a XMPP client that is capable of Off The Record OTR protocol. Here's a list of those clients.
Additionally you need to use a server that offers a hidden service. Thanks to /u/BlossomingBeelzebub , /u/DareToHope , /u/opiatejunkbox45973 & /u/al_eber for this information.
/u/al_eber provided the following servers with a hidden service:
/u/fekursec provided:
EDIT 3:
/u/umbreonDNMteam provided the following server information:
- Public XMPP Server Directory
- Calyx Public Jabber/XMPP Server
- A/I IRC & Jabber Service
- DuckDuckGo XMPP server
EDIT 4:
/u/VendorBacta shared this awesome list of clients from Prism-Break.org
If you know of any other servers with hidden service post in the comments I'll add them here.
TorChat and Ricochet both work very similarly. I wouldn't use either.
Your best bet "production-level" choice is XMPP + OTR using a secure server and client.
On mobile Wickr is a viable option if your device is somewhat secured.
There are a few neat looking newer projects like Pond and one other one that are showing promise.
IRC can work but you need to know what you're doing. Same with Bitmessage.
Tox is too experimental still.
ICQ is bad news.