this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2021
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Privacy
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Skip Signal, skip Matrix, go independent, go P2P.
with what? tox?
Tox is well implemented, but we need something that can handle messages when a recipient is offline, and something that won't consume a lot of energy on a mobile device. Regardless of what options we have today, we need to push for the next gen of P2P, not accept less.
Well, not exactly, I believe Tox hadn't moved away from needing a lot of auditing they lack. Seed:
https://github.com/TokTok/c-toxcore
https://github.com/TokTok/c-toxcore/issues/426
https://github.com/TokTok/c-toxcore/issues/210
https://github.com/TokTok/spec/issues/50
What it seems is that tox was left behind, compared to other protocols... But most importantly, that they're really lacking the auditing they need.
I was a fan long time ago, but now I no longer know... Besides tox, there are other p2p ways to communicate, like Briar and Jami. Though Jami doesn't use double ratchet encryption, it does offer e2ee, and it's the only offering multi devices syncing, though it doesn't really work well yet.
The other thing about p2p + e2ee communications, is how impractical they become on mobile devices, whether you keep them deactivated, or you get your device battery drawn in half a day or so... But I'm still hoping for they to become better on both aspects, power consumption and multi devices syncing, supporting both, desktop and mobile devices. In the meantime, I settle down with xmpp, :)
I didn't like Briar because it isn't cross platform. I didn't like Jami because the configuration is confusing and the UI on Linux is not good. Tox has issues, but I'm over Tor. It is simple...and very fast...even over Tor. Status.im is another to take a look at. They may have solved the offline issues. Like I've said, there still a lot of room for a new generation of messengers.
Yup, there are several options... And I guess, as everything, it's a matter of taste. I do believe Tox shouldn't be used when looking for privacy and security, and somehow, perhaps due to lack of developers, that hadn't changed for quite some time. FYI, there's a Briar for gnu+linux, though I can't tell if there's a desktop version of it (I do know ubuntu touch makes it available for phones). Unfortunately I don't like status.im, it includes a crypto wallet within, and though it's OSS, it's not FLOSS, which I prefer, having an option. I'm hopping for Jami to get more polished, both on the devices syncing and the UI. I have to see what happens with Briar for gnu+linux, and although I lost hope some time back, I'd really like Tox to improve on its security status. BTW, I used Tox (I really had high hopes on it), and there's no multi-device support. On Android I used both, trifa and antox (it seems antox has been dropped now a days), and on desktop I used qtox. And with no exception, on Android, tox apps, briar, jami, all are power hungry, which is the other thing I'd really like them to improve, but have low expectations given their p2p nature...
Status is something I'm trying to better understand. It solves the P2P problem of offline messages, but I haven't tried the mobile version to measure battery consumption. I would assume the battery usage is better because Status doesn't require to be constantly online.
I think there needs to be a mind set change for these types of apps. The big shift is to refer to these apps/platforms as decentralized/distributed. Decentralization/distributed includes messaging + currency + websites. Status is also built with Ethereum. So if they have the technology already built, it would seem logical a lot of these apps/platforms are going to include similar crypto/blockchain features. And if you don't like the dapps and wallet, you can disable the features in the app. So far I haven't seen a downside.