2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike


2007 Hollywood Strike  

282 members have voted

  1. 1. Who do you support in the strike?

    • The AMPTP
      35
    • The WGA
      140
    • Undecided/Don't Care
      107


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There's an A-Team movie -- And it's finished?!?

No, the studio, FOX, was hoping to get that through before the strike, but it didn't happen though. Everyone was expecting the strike to happen next year, not this year. Everyone was caught way off guard when the writers walked.

Tonight Show and Late Night Returning Jan. 2

After two months of repeats, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" will resume broadcasting all-new episodes beginning Wednesday, January 2, 2008 (11:35 p.m., 12:35 a.m., respectively).

The late night shows suspended production due to the strike by the Writers Guild of America on November 5 and have aired repeats since.

"During the 1988 writers strike, Johnny Carson reluctantly returned to 'The Tonight Show' without his writers after two months. Both Jay and Conan have supported their writers during the first two months of this WGA strike and will continue to support them. However, there are hundreds of people who will be able to return to work as a result of Jay's and Conan's decision," said Rick Ludwin, Executive Vice President, Late Night & Primetime Series.

Both Leno and O'Brien released statements regarding their returns. First up is Leno:

"This has been a very difficult six weeks for everybody affected by the writers strike. I was, like most people, hoping for a quick resolution when this began. I remained positive during the talks and while they were still at the table discussing a solution "The Tonight Show" remained dark in support of our writing staff. Now that the talks have broken down and there are no further negotiations scheduled I feel it's my responsibility to get my 100 non-writing staff, which were laid off, back to work. We fully support our writers and I think they understand my decision."

O'Brien said:

"For the past seven weeks of the writers' strike, I have been and continue to be an ardent supporter of the WGA and their cause. My career in television started as a WGA member and my subsequent career as a performer has only been possible because of the creativity and integrity of my writing staff. Since the strike began, I have stayed off the air in support of the striking writers while, at the same time, doing everything I could to take care of the 80 non-writing staff members on Late Night.

Unfortunately, now with the New Year upon us, I am left with a difficult decision. Either go back to work and keep my staff employed or stay dark and allow 80 people, many of whom have worked for me for fourteen years, to lose their jobs. If my show were entirely scripted I would have no choice. But the truth is that shows like mine are hybrids, with both written and non-written content. An unwritten version of Late Night, though not desirable, is possible - and no one has to be fired.

So, it is only after a great deal of thought that I have decided to go back on the air on January 2nd. I will make clear, on the program, my support for the writers and I'll do the best version of Late Night I can under the circumstances. Of course, my show will not be as good. In fact, in moments it may very well be terrible. My sincerest hope is that all of my writers are back soon, working under a contract that provides them everything they deserve."

:laugh: Letterman was probably wishing he would have been the first to do this. Talk about being bitch slapped.

Strike Watch: Is the TV season over?

A report from the picket lines in L.A.

It took a Brit to sum up the state of the Writers Guild of America strike, which is now more than six weeks old.

“This winter is going to be Valley Forge,” British actor and comedian Eddie Izzard said at Friday’s Write Aid, a WGA benefit staged at UCLA’s Royce Hall by several comics.

Performers on the bill included Andy Dick, Tenacious D and Sarah Silverman, but Izzard, the star of FX’s “The Riches,” and Patton Oswalt (“Ratatouille”) did the most to lift the audience of writers and actors with blisteringly funny sets.

Patton did a hilarious riff on YouTube: “YouTube has destroyed my ability to know whether I am bored or entertained." Izzard offered inspired bits on Wikipedia (the site being 80 percent true was “good enough,” right?) and the history of the world: Between the dawn of life on the planet and thawing of the Ice Age, “it was mostly monsters."

He also had some thoughts on the AMPTP, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television producers, which is the somewhat enigmatic group across the table from the WGA negotiators (when the two sides are talking, that is). “Why aren’t they all British, like on the Death Star?” he wondered.

Despite the laughs at Royce Hall, spirits did need some lifting in the entertainment community. Christmas is approaching, but an end to the writers strike appears to be further away than ever.

Visits to several picket lines outside Hollywood studios and conversations with dozens of striking writers revealed deep resolve and many new friendships among the scribes. But there’s also fear for the future, especially because some observers are predicting that it could be months before the strike is resolved.

“I didn’t expect my emotions to be so in play,” said Marc Guggenheim, co-creator of ABC’s midseason drama “Eli Stone.” “There’s an underlying current of anxiety. It’s high-stakes poker being played here.”

Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel, who used to be a lawyer for the WGA, said that he thinks the Guild and the AMPTP won’t sit down again for at least a month or two, if not longer. Handel predicts that the AMPTP and the Directors Guild of America will conclude their own contract talks, which are set to begin in January, before talks with the WGA negotiations resume.

And thanks to the Guild’s recent filing of a labor complaint over the AMPTP’s exit from negotiations, relations between the two parties are at an all-time low. “Any backchannel talks are busted,” Handel said Friday.

“Personally I believe we will be walking the line for 5? months, then [the AMPTP] will come back offering the same deal that they left on the table” in December, said Michael Tabb, a film writer picketing outside Disney.

But if the Guild and the producers can’t settle their differences soon, both the current TV season and the fall season are at risk.

“I think that January is really the critical month,” said Carlton Cuse, an executive producer of “Lost” (which returns with an eight-episode season Jan. 31) and a member of the WGA negotiating committee.

“There’s still time, if we can make a deal, to salvage the remnants of this television season,” Cuse continued. “It’ll be shorter, but it’ll give us a chance to wrap up [our shows]. But more importantly, there is still a chance to salvage pilot season [in which potential fall shows are created]. If January comes and goes without a deal, you’re really looking at this television season and next television season being cratered, as far as scripted shows go.”

Then again, no one I spoke to wanted to see pilot season, which runs from January to April, continue the same way it has in the past. It’s a madly condensed process in which every studio and show creator chases the same pool of actors and writers, and everyone involved is wrung out by the attempt to shoot dozens of pilots in a very short period of time (and only a fraction of the completed pilots ever see the light of day).

But just as the January-to-April pilot season may undergo serious changes, even if the strike is settled, many other changes and new endeavors are being contemplated by networks and studios, including year-round debuts for new shows and fewer episodes in a season, as a recent Variety story noted.

For its part, the WGA is considering creating pacts with new-media companies so that writers can continue to work, despite the strike against companies represented by the AMPTP.

“A lot of people have come knocking at the Guild’s door wanting to utilize the services of writers in new media. … And I think writers are incredibly interested in the possibility of owning their own work and finding ways for their work to be distributed straight to the Internet,” Cuse said. “I think people from the new-media world are opportunistically seeing the strike as a chance for them to get access to the very best writers out there.”

Nothing in the Guild contract prevents WGA members from working for companies that have no affiliations with the AMPTP (though some writers may have clauses in their studio contracts that could limit their ability to do outside work).

But one of the main issues of the strike is WGA jurisdiction over mobisodes, Webisodes and other Internet content. Those kinds of endeavors, whether they’re created for traditional companies or non-Hollywood firms, are not covered by the Guild’s current contract. And it would be in the WGA’s interest to work out deals with new-media firms, so that compensation for those ventures included contributions to pension and health funds and so that these new ventures don’t turn into an online free-for-all that leaves the Guild out in the cold.

“The work would have to be covered by some kind of agreement,” Cuse said. “They are only preliminary conversations that are being had, and at this point it’s our intention to make a new deal with the traditional media companies. But it would be irresponsible for us not to explore other ways in which writers can have outlets for their creative work.”

Michael Tabb, a film writer picketing the Disney studio, noted that “a lot of us are trying to find ways to make a living doing what we do without the studios.”

Edward Allen Bernero, a former Chicagoan and the executive producer of “Criminal Minds,” noted, “There are a number of companies — Google, Yahoo, Apple, Dell — with billions of dollars that they want to invest.”

“I do I think that [TV] showrunners and show creators are entrepreneurial at their heart. And they’ve spend the last three years watching their stuff get fed to telephone screens and computers and I really think they’re fed up with it,” Bernero added.

“The culture in Silicon Valley is much more of a meritocracy than the top-down, command-and-control model of Hollywood, which extends not just to the companies but to the director on a set. There is an opening here [for writers] and it’s actually an interesting question as to why this effort was not undertaken several years ago,” Handel said.

And the strike has “hastened these changes and [the creation of] new models,” said Neal Baer, executive producer of “Law & Order: SVU” and a member of the WGA negotiating committee.

Still, writers understand that the big media companies do some things very well. They have the money and professional resources to create quality entertainment, and they’re very good at promoting their products.

“I do things on the Internet, my own short films. Nobody is paying for it,” said Joe Medeiros, an NBC picketer and the head writer for “The Tonight Show W ith Jay Leno.”

“I like working with NBC Universal. I like the fact that they promote my show. They do that really well. I can’t do that — I’m not a publicist,” Baer said.

Echoing the thoughts of many other writers I interviewed in the last few days, he said, “I don’t want to break my partnership with them. I just want to get paid” for what gets put online .

But as many writers noted, the acrimony of the strike is forcing writers to take a hard look at how to support themselves, with or without a new contract in hand.

“There are things that the Guild is approving that … hopefully will start to change the way the business works,” Tabb said.

As far as WGA-AMPTP talks go, no one expects them to resume soon. Relations between the two sides remain at an impasse. When asked whether the Guild was firmly committed to the notion of organizing reality-TV and animation workers — and those are major sticking points in the strike — Baer didn’t address those issues specifically, but he did say, “We’re not saying we’re going to get everything.”

As Bernero noted, “Everything is important, but everything is negotiable.”

Though “The Late Show With David Letterman” is pursuing a side deal with the WGA so that the program can return to TV, it’s not clear if that means all or even most late-night shows will return soon. And though the Guild is also now pursuing pacts with individual studios, rather than an overall deal with the AMPTP, at least one writer was pessimistic about that effort.

“I will be surprised if this yields anything in the way of results, and I suspect we’re doing it more for the PR value — hey, we’re trying to make a deal here — than with any optimism than Universal or Sony or anyone will break ranks,” Guild member Mark Evanier wrote on his site, www.newsfromme.com.

“There’s no trust on either side. How do we rebuild trust and negotiate from there?” Guggenheim said.

That’s a good question. Though it was sunny last week in L.A., whenever you stepped into the shadows, it was often quite cool. It looks like things could get even chillier as the winter drags on.

The WGA Won't Grant Waivers to Awards Shows

This press release was just issued by the WGA, moments after the announcement was made in the general meeting (which at the time of this posting is still continuing).

Members will conduct black-tie pickets at the various awards shows; any nominee who wins an award but chooses not to cross the picket line will have the choice to accept that award on the line, with their acceptance broadcast live on the Internet.

SAG President Alan Rosenberg is present at the meeting, and applauded the announcement.

WRITERS GUILD DECIDES ON GOLDEN GLOBES AND ACADEMY AWARDS SHOW WAIVERS

LOS ANGELES ? The Writers Guild has notified the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and dick clark productions that their requests for an agreement to allow writers to prepare material for the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards show have been denied.

The Guild has also denied a request from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a waiver in connection with the use of clips from motion pictures and past Academy Awards shows for use during the annual Academy Awards presentation.

In letters to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, WGAW President Patric M. Verrone described the Guild?s respect and admiration for both organizations, explaining that:

?Writers are engaged in a crucial struggle to achieve a collective bargaining agreement that will protect their compensation and intellectual property rights now and in the future. We must do everything we can to bring our negotiations to a swift and fair conclusion for the benefit of writers and all those who are being harmed by the companies? failure to engage in serious negotiations.?

The signatories producing the Golden Globes and the Oscars are West Coast signatories. The WGAW?s Board of Directors concluded, reluctantly, that granting exceptions for the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards would not advance that goal.

UH EXCLUSIVE: Counter... Productive?

Despite taking out full-page print ads touting their collusion unity, cracks are beginning to surface amongst the handful of major media corporations who make up the AMPTP's core decision makers.

Thanks to reporting by Nikki Finke and the Wall Street Journal, the disagreements and infighting between the moguls have become an open secret. With their businesses so different, some of them are angrily watching their bottom lines (and pipelines) suffer in service of the agendas of their competitors.

For the past two decades, the moguls have bought into the idea that they all save money if they negotiate as a group. And up until now, such a strategy has served them well. But present circumstances have changed the equation. Yet still the companies are hesitant (at least thus far) to negotiate individually.

Why?

Unfortunately for writers, Hollywood below-the-line workers, Los Angeles businesses and, yes, even the companies themselves, what?s driving the negotiations (or lack thereof) is Nick Counter?s agenda. And the bizarre part is, that agenda doesn?t necessarily line up with several of the congloms.

Compiled from sources close to the companies who are frustrated by the lack of progress, below is a brief primer on which company stands where at the momWarner Brothersrs is well positioned to hold out for a long strike, and right now, it almost seems that?s what the company wants. They?re owned by Time Warner, a very diversified media conglomerate, and their television network (?The CW?) isn?t a big profit generator, so it doesn?t matter if their season tanks. Warner Brothers is the company most well-aligned with Nick Counter?s strategy because, for them, the numbers make sense.

There's also an interesting side plot for Warners: They've been quietly looking to acquire CBS, and so it's in their interest to see CBS's stock price fall. Warners and CBS are partners in The CW network, but while CBS is the reigning #1 network, The CW has dramatically underperformed at #5. Some question how much longer the network will exist. In the event of The CW's demise, Warners will need to own another network for their coCBSrtfolio.

CBS is a company primarily in the scripted TV business, and stands to see its season decimated by the strike without a juggernaut like "American Idol" to rely on. They?re also aware of Warner?s intentions, and seeing their season sink even further is not comforting. They have a lot to gain in seeingSonyed quickly.

Sony is primarily in the film business, so they have felt less impact than the television-heavy companies. But it?s escalating as more movies fall apart due to script problems (like "Angels and Demons") and it?s starting to affect their pipeline. They?ve run the numbers and come to the conclusion that the strike is, fromParamountve, ?crazy.?

Paramount is primarily a movie studio, and is facing the same problems as Sony, with much the same attitude. And they'reFoxolder about saying so.

Fox is rumored to see an opportunity to capitalize on the other networks' woes with "American Idol," which will massacre the repeats and reality shows of their competitors. Also, like Time Warner, News Corp has very deep pockets. Even if some of their competitors crash and NBC/Universal?ll survive.

NBC/Universal, like Warners, has a well-diversified corporate parent in GE. Still, Universal has lost some movies and is facing a wave of cancelled/sub par projects if this lasts past January. Furthermore, NBC is givng back money to advertisers and seeing a migration away from its network that could be permanent. (Everyone?s nightmare about TV generally.)

GE can easily withstand the losses. But our leakers say Fairfield, CT realizes that the bottom-line economics of holding out make no sense, and Universal City,Disney/ABCirely in agreement.

Disney/ABC is taking a hit on the network side, although they?ll have more scripted programming than most with 8 episodes of Lost to air. In the negotiating room, Disney acts very unwilling to settle. However, it?s rumored that the attitude at the negotiating table does not always reflect the opinions of top management.

UA and MGM are not thrilled about any of this, especially since their share of the contract that the WGA is asking for currently comes to less than half a million dollars a year for each of them. The havoc that the strike is playing with their new business seems high when the cost of settling is so low.

So with all these differing corporate circumstances, what exactly is Nick Counter's agenda?

In a nutshell: His agenda is Nick Counter.

Counter is very proud to have made his reputation by screwing the unions on DVDs 20 years ago. And with the current negotiation his last, he?s obsessed with cementing his ?legacy? by keeping everyone out of what he believes is the next frontier of big profits ? the Internet.

He?s leading the charge, and the collateral damage to the studios and networks (or anyone else, for that matter) isn?t his concern. If this year?s TV season goes up in flames, or the 2009 theatrical schedule falls apart, it doesn?t affect him ? he?s retiring.

Think about it: Nick Counter is the only one in this entire process - on any side - with absolutely nothing to lose.

So where are the CEOs in all of this? Why isn't somebody standing up?

Although he does not lead the CEOs in any real sense, sources say that in the absence of a real leader pushing for a deal, Nick's hawk position (and he is the real hawk, along with Warner Brothers) is the default.

Furthermore, the real problem is the one Nikki Finke points out ? in a small company town, the CEO?s are all afraid to be the one who broke with the herd. Nobody wants to be ostracized from the Big Media Frat Club. Even, apparently, if it comes at the expense of their own business' financial health. Even if it gives their competitors the ability to drag out the strike and tank their own stock price.

And that's sad for us all - except Nick Counter - on so many levels.

Still, it's not too late for one of the moguls to step up. We hope, for everyone's sake, that they do.

FCC Media Consolidation - Act Now!

The FCC approved new rules that will unleash a flood of media consolidation across America. The new rules will further consolidate local media markets -- taking away independent voices in cities already woefully short on local news and investigative journalism.

Congress has the power to throw out these rules -- and if 100,000 people demand it, they'll have to listen. Sign the open letter to Congress urging them to stop the FCC and stand with the public interest.

http://action.freepress.net/campaign/sbmopenletter/

Guild ponders street protests at Golden Globes

Is Hollywood ready for black-tie picketing? How about A-list writers such as J.J. Abrams and Judd Apatow in Armani tuxedos standing near the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards, where the limos enter the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the Golden Globe Awards?

That's the plan that Writers Guild President Patric M. Verrone mentioned at the membership meeting Monday night, according to people who were there.

By Tuesday morning, as the town processed the news that the guild had denied waivers to the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards, a consensus was rapidly forming that the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. would probably be handing out awards themselves at the Jan. 13 event should the strike not be settled by then. Without a waiver, the awards show would not be able to employ WGA writers and would be open to a boycott and picketing.

"We're all waiting to see if somehow they're going to reach a compromise or a solution," said Catherine Olim of the publicity powerhouse PMK/HBH, who represents such Globe nominees as Glenn Close. "I don't mean the writers and the [Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers] -- I mean the writers and the Golden Globes."

A prominent talent agent predicted that no actors would show up. "There's no way any of them will be going," the agent said. "Anybody who does go will look like they're out for the publicity and not caring about what the writers -- and the actors who are allied with them -- are trying to achieve."

Writers Guild spokesman Gregg Mitchell said, "It is not in violation of strike rules to attend a show and do a press junket. That said, we leave it up to members to make personal decisions."

The Screen Actors Guild has yet to make a recommendation to its members.

It's unclear whether stars would boycott "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," which are scheduled to return to the air Jan. 2, without writers. As guild members, Leno and O'Brien will be barred from writing their own monologues, though theoretically they could improvise. They could also rely more heavily on guest interviews.

CBS' David Letterman and Craig Ferguson are hoping to come back on the air the same night, but with their writers. Both shows are owned by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Inc., which said Saturday that it wanted to make an interim agreement with the WGA that would cover the writing staffs of the two programs.

The guild said over the weekend that it was interested in negotiating deals with individual studios, but the two sides have not begun discussions. A spokeswoman for WGA East said the union's negotiating committee would take up the matter today. One possible sticking point: CBS owns the digital rights to the Letterman and Ferguson shows, which could make it difficult for Worldwide Pants to meet the guild's terms.

"We are willing to agree to the writers' demands that are within our control, so we have no reason to believe that an interim agreement can't be achieved with the WGA," Rob Burnett, chief executive of Worldwide Pants, said in a statement Tuesday.

Typically, a chat with Leno or Letterman is a highly coveted staple of any movie publicity tour, especially during awards season, and a way for celebrities from every arena to raise their profiles.

"If talent is going to carry more weight, who is going to go on the show?" said publicist and noted Oscar strategist Tony Angellotti.

In a statement, the WGA said that "NBC forcing Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien back on the air without writers is not going to provide the quality entertainment that the public deserves."

Late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel is also returning to work Jan. 2. On Monday a booker for his show sent an e-mail to publicists asking for help lining up their clients.

Carson Daly and Ellen DeGeneres, two talk-show hosts who've already returned, have been roundly criticized by the Writers Guild, though they're still apparently booking guests. DeGeneres' lineup this week includes Carmen Electra, Jane Seymour and a person billed as YouTube star Charice Pempengco. The head of marketing at one studio said many stars have refused to go on "Ellen" because they consider it a "struck" show.

Others are waiting to see guidelines by the Screen Actors Guild, whose leader, Alan Rosenberg, recently vowed in a letter to the WGA that the "Screen Actors Guild will stand with you for as long as it takes."

Although the SAG contract doesn't expire until summer, the actors union shares the screenwriters' concern over securing higher Internet payments.

"The Writers Guild rules don't discourage publicity," said publicist Kelly Bush, who represents Ben Stiller as well as DeGeneres. "They just don't want you to cross the picket line, so it will depend on whether those shows are being picketed."

It's unclear whether stars would boycott "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," which are scheduled to return to the air Jan. 2, without writers. As guild members, Leno and O'Brien will be barred from writing their own monologues, though theoretically they could improvise. They could also rely more heavily on guest interviews.

They can't even write a monologue, christ... What about Christmas cards, are the guilds stopping them from writing those too......

They can't even write a monologue, christ... What about Christmas cards, are the guilds stopping them from writing those too......

Let's be sensible about this. The Writer's Guild has barred them from wrong monologues because of profit. If they write a monologue for the show, then they're clearly violating the guild's membership. If they go out and start writing for Hallmark, then that wouldn't be breaking the guilds rules. If Hallmark were owned by Viacom (parent company of CBS), then they'd be breaking the rules. Essentially if the writers write anything for the companies represented by the AMPTP, then they'd be breaking the rules. Of course they'd still have to get the waiver from the guild to make profit from Hallmark, but that wouldn't difficult I'd imagine.

I love seeing this happen. The AMPTP is the only one to blame for this, and I hope the rest of Hollywood figures that out and pressures them to end this standoff.

The major ad companies are behind the WGA and said they were going to start putting pressure on the AMPTP :woot:

-Spenser

The major ad companies are behind the WGA and said they were going to start putting pressure on the AMPTP :woot:

-Spenser

Oh come on, thats because there are no new shows, and therefore less people seeing their commercials. It has nothing to do with supporting the WGA, they just want money. Either from the shows coming back, or from the studios giving it back to them.

Oh come on, thats because there are no new shows, and therefore less people seeing their commercials. It has nothing to do with supporting the WGA, they just want money. Either from the shows coming back, or from the studios giving it back to them.

Frankly, I don't care. The enemy of your enemy is your friend, and if the ad companies are pressuring the AMPTP as well then they're pretty much on the good side in my book.

I just hope once Christmas and New Year comes and goes that its settled and we can get back to the Heroes and Chuck.

... and How I Met Your Mother, and The Office, and House, and Reaper, and Scrubs. I'm not asking for too much, am I? :p

... and How I Met Your Mother, and The Office, and House, and Reaper, and Scrubs. I'm not asking for too much, am I? :p

Ask Santa he may bring the present of end of strike...

I just hope once Christmas and New Year comes and goes that its settled and we can get back to the Heroes and Chuck.

Don't hold your breath. No wait, hold it... I've been dreaming of a blue Rappy.

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When I first learned about Delta Chat, it required users to sign in with an email account, but I was pleasantly surprised upon trying it in 2026 that this is no longer a requirement, or the preferred method was to use the app. Recently, I’ve tried UAD-ng on my old Nokia 3.4 to disable most of the Google apps because the bootloader is locked, and this is the next best option. While finding replacement apps in F-Droid, I came across Delta Chat again, and it has undergone quite a big change since I last used it, with its new chatmail relays, which no longer require you to sign in to your own email account, providing anonymity, and they offer greater security. Android and Desktop Delta Chat apps. Not only does it run on my de-googled phone, but it also works on desktop computers and iOS, making it truly ubiquitous. For me, Delta Chat is a wonderful alternative messenger because it gives you more control. It supports switching between different profiles, which you can set up super quickly; you don’t register a username, you don’t register a password. The only thing you do have is a random string email address on a chatmail relay (which you don’t have to memorize). To maintain access to your profile, you just need to add a second device to your account via QR code or make a backup of your account, which you can restore later. Fail to do these, your account is gone - as it should be if you don’t want to leave accounts that could get hacked later on. My decision to block Google stuff on my Nokia was done for practical reasons; the device sucked when it launched, and it sucks even more now. The nice thing about F-Droid and the apps within is that they’re usually lightweight, free of bloat, and work well on that device. What was inconvenient for me was that it was hard to send messages from that device, say if I wanted to copy a code over to my main phone or send family members a link from that device. That’s when I decided to look at the available chat apps and saw Delta Chat. Another nice thing about Delta Chat is its notifications. Some messaging apps rely on Google’s ecosystem for notification transport on Android; however, with Delta Chat, it can use Google’s solutions if you have Play Services or MicroG installed. Otherwise, it is able to keep a background connection to the chatmail relay server so that you can get notified when you receive a message. As free software, the code of Delta Chat is open for all who want to take it and build upon it. In the future, if the developers of Delta Chat make a catastrophically bad decision and take the app in an undesirable direction, users can take the code and fork the project. This contrasts with closed-source apps from corporations that can take their products in any direction they like. By relying on free software instead of closed-source programs, you actually control your computing. I’ve spoken at length about how running this type of software is like owning your own home rather than renting it. The same applies here; if you use Delta Chat, you don’t need to worry about it going away in the future. Whether it is Telegram, WhatsApp, or Messenger, you are required to register a username and password to use these services. A major flaw in this design is that anyone can try various passwords and potentially break into your account with your complete chat history intact. Sure, there is encryption in Messenger, where you need a second PIN and two-factor authentication in Telegram, but breaches happen all the time. Unlike before, when you used to sign in to your email account to send and receive messages, the primary way to do it now is to create an account on a chatmail relay. The resulting email address is a random string followed by the name of the relay you pick. This means you can start and begin adding contacts Without a username and password, you either need to ensure you have a backup or at least one device running your Delta Chat profile. The primary way to log in on another device is to go to the settings and add a second device. Then, you’ll just scan a QR code with your new device, and it’ll log in to your account and sync all your chat history and contacts. To end users, Delta Chat just looks like any instant messenger; however, it is really sending your messages as encrypted emails to your contact. This is pretty cool from a censorship perspective, as it makes the service more difficult to block. Previously, the main way to use the app was by logging in with email, but nowadays, it’s recommended that you use chatmail relays. Chatmail relays temporarily hold messages in case your device is offline. They are cheap, simple servers that don’t store data as group states. Other information, like your name and avatar, only exists on your device and the devices of those you share your contact information with. The relays are also decentralized and operated by various groups and individuals. It is even possible to set up your own chatmail relay, but most people will want to use one hosted elsewhere. To keep your messages secure, Delta Chat uses a secure subset of the OpenPGP standard that gives you automatic end-to-end encryption. It also uses Secure-Join to exchange encryption setup information through QR-code scanning or invite links. Autocrypt is also used to automatically establish end-to-end encryption between contacts and all members of group chat, but sometime this year Autocrypt v2 will be rolled out, bringing post-quantum resistant encryption and forward secrecy. The Delta Chat FAQ is an interesting read that explains many more details about the app. Credit: Pexels Delta Chat is unique among messaging apps because it is built on email, a technology that’s decades old and isn’t going anywhere soon. What’s more is that email is not centralized either, so it’s far more difficult for any authoritarian regime to disrupt the Delta Chat app. I haven’t spoken too much about features yet, so I will do that now. Delta Chat allows you to do one-on-one chats, group chats, and create channels. It also supports file sharing and making audio and video calls when chatting one-to-one, but it’s not available for group chats right now. At the time of writing, the calling functionality is disabled and can be enabled in Settings > Advanced > Debug Calls. I have used the video calling feature, and the quality is excellent. It works over WebRTC, another open standard. The app also lets you send voice notes, enables disappearing messages, and has its own app ecosystem. I did try playing chess one time there, but it was a bit spotty; though, we did manage to complete the game with a victory for me. To add people to Delta Chat, you can either give them your Delta Chat link or your QR code to scan. These are the only ways to add users, so you won't have any spam bots bothering you. If the people you want to chat with don't have the app yet, just send them your link, and it will take them to a webpage where they can install the app and then add you. It's really quick for them to install it and get started, which is nice. Credit: Microsoft. The Majorana 2 quantum chip unveiled in 2026. I do not think quantum computers are too far out now, and I do hope that Delta Chat is able to push out Autocrypt v2 sooner, rather than later, so bad actors do not attempt to collect encrypted communications and then decrypt them in the future using quantum computers. By getting people’s messages post-quantum-safe now, users won’t have to worry when quantum computers start cracking legacy encryption. Overall, I would recommend this app to people who are already past WhatsApp and Messenger and have perhaps begun using apps like Telegram or Session. It shares a lot of characteristics with these apps and goes a lot further than Telegram in terms of security. By being based on email, it is also resistant to censorship, and the lack of a username and password makes you anonymous (if you want to be) and safe from brute force password cracking attempts. Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried Delta Chat recently. Do you think it's a good bulwark against governments that are tightening their grip on the internet?
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