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A decentralized communication platform
Private Chat
Most messengers require central servers in the background, which means registering with your email address or phone number. This is not the case for the open source Jami. Much like BitTorrent, the Jami messenger uses a distributed hash table to set up its own network, which lets it get by without central registration [1]. You only need to register if you want a unique username that can be found with Jami's search function – but this does not require providing any personal information.
Jami is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows; smartphones with Android [2] and iOS [3]; and TVs with Android TV. The "Free as in Freedom" Jami release offers cross-platform videoconferencing (previously only available in the Linux version), audio and video messaging in the style of WhatsApp, and a dark theme. Jami also lets you share your desktop or individual windows instead of the webcam image.
Strict adherence to anonymity and the omission of a central server make Jami an exciting alternative to videoconferencing software that requires a central server potentially located somewhere that might not be secure. In terms of data protection law, the elimination of the EU-US Privacy Shield is not a problem for Jami.
Installation
The developers provide installation files and package sources for Fedora, Debian, and Ubuntu. To install Jami on Ubuntu 20.04, see Listing 1; for other distributions, you will find instructions on the Jami website [4]. Ubuntu also offers a Jami Snap package.
Listing 1
Installing on Ubuntu
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