How to install Element? (again)

Hardware Librem 5
21

I called myself from phone to PC (of course encrypted). This was working fine. If you want to make a video call, you need an USB-webcam on Librem 5 at the current development level (internal camera will be solved some time in future). But you can display any incoming video to any time.

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lck, your fix worked. Thanks. When you audio call your PC from the Librem 5, do you have VPNs running on either end?

Regarding the video, Element support has told me that Element uses Jitsi for video, which is NOT encrypted, but that Element texts and audio calls ARE encrypted as long as the room is encrypted.

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23

I did not use VPN, but 2 different accounts. VPN shouldn’t make any difference in usage (as long as it does not slow down the connection itself too much).

About video, that’s right for the moment. I just wanted to give additional information about Librem 5 and camera usage in Element. But you bring this topic up … so some other information for you: the Element team is working on an own solution called “Element Calls”. It’s currently in beta stage and will be implemented into default Element clients some day. This enables not just encrypted video chat, but also encrypted video conferences with many participants. It’s a matter of time.

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24

That information seems to contradict with this article:

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Well, the article says:

"Does Jitsi support end-to-end encryption?

You can turn on end-to-end encryption (e2ee) as long as you are using Jitsi Meet on a browser with support for insertable streams. Currently this means any browser based on Chromium 83 and above, including Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Brave, Opera and others."

The way I read this is that Jitsi will encrypt video only if you use a non-Firefox browser that spies on you, and only if you use the web app and not the app installed on our L5s. Even on FF, I’ve found Element Web browser app difficult to use - I have to strip FF bare with no privacy protections and re-enable WebRTC, which may show my real ip behind a VPN. So I think this article is (not) saying that if you use the Linux, Windows or iOS apps, Jitsi video is not encrypted; you need to use it via a (non-FF) browser in order for Jitsi video to be encrypted.

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That part of the article refers to E2EE. Below that section, there is this quote referring to Jitsi Meet’s encryption in more detail:

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