Hm, could this be a business application of zkSNARK proofs? https://github.com/scipr-lab/libsnark
Spideroak Kloak: Zero-Knowlege Social Networking
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Re: Spideroak Kloak: Zero-Knowlege Social Networking
#12Is this just a loss-leader for their backup/storage service? I am a big fan of not being the product, but how does this make money?
Not to mention: if everything is encrypted using your password as a key, how do your friends see your posts? Are they encrypted for each friend with that friend's public key?
They could be encrypted with a random symmetric key that is then itself asymmetrically encrypted individually for everyone in your network and provided to them through some means. This is also how the OpenPGP works.
Re: Spideroak Kloak: Zero-Knowlege Social Networking
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to mention: if everything is encrypted using your password as a key, how do your friends see your posts? Are they encrypted for each friend with that friend's public key?
> Are they encrypted for each friend with that friend's public key? That sounds about right. However this is a closed-source project, so I don't see why it would be picked up by privacy enthusiasts.
No, it is fully open source from day one: https://github.com/Crypton/statusapp
Re: Spideroak Kloak: Zero-Knowlege Social Networking
#14Kloak's threat model is advertisers and data-miners. It is an experiment in private social networking. It is part of a set of new applications we are building at SpiderOak. Kloak is more or less a lab experiment in the UX of private systems.
Re: Spideroak Kloak: Zero-Knowlege Social Networking
#15Either show my location or don't. Randomizing in a four-mile radius is both compromising and useless.
Making the location fuzzy was a notion I had - it's still not great. One problem here is doing location name without calling any external APIs. We store all place names in the app. Not ideal.
Re: Spideroak Kloak: Zero-Knowlege Social Networking
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to mention: if everything is encrypted using your password as a key, how do your friends see your posts? Are they encrypted for each friend with that friend's public key?
They could be encrypted with a random symmetric key that is then itself asymmetrically encrypted individually for everyone in your network and provided to them through some means. This is also how the OpenPGP works.
You share the (wrapped) post key with all contacts when you add them as contacts
Re: Spideroak Kloak: Zero-Knowlege Social Networking
#17Its not a bad idea but its not better than existing products [e.g. TextSecure] in terms of actual privacy.
Signal (formerly TextSecure and RedPhone, now merged) isn't a social networking app.
Correct, it is a texting app, and is fantastic. I did not want to build another texting app. As a twitter fiend I wanted a private twitter-like experience. Still, there is much to do.
Re: Spideroak Kloak: Zero-Knowlege Social Networking
#18Kloak's threat model is advertisers and data-miners. It is an experiment in private social networking. It is part of a set of new applications we are building at SpiderOak. Kloak is more or less a lab experiment in the UX of private systems.
I can't tell you how excited I am to see it. It seems to me that there is no good reason end users shouldn't control their social networking info, to use (e.g., via third party apps, to backup, to migrate) and share as they see fit.
> threat model is advertisers and data-miners
So many threat models I see are hackers and malware. Those are important, but much more widespread are the threats you identify.
> It is part of a set of new applications we are building at SpiderOak.
This has me much more intersted in SpiderOak. What else is in the pipeline, if you can share?
> Kloak is more or less a lab experiment in the UX of private systems
Great. Even if Kloak itself doesn't work out (and I hope it does) it could be a step forward for everyone. It seems like the path to building non-private system is very well-established, but those who want to give their users privacy have much more to invent on their own. So thanks for making it open source too.
Re: Spideroak Kloak: Zero-Knowlege Social Networking
#19Either show my location or don't. Randomizing in a four-mile radius is both compromising and useless.
Making the location fuzzy was a notion I had - it's still not great. One problem here is doing location name without calling any external APIs. We store all place names in the app. Not ideal.
How about four options:
( ) Accurate location
( ) Fuzzy location (within 4 miles)
( ) Super-fuzzy location (state/country and time zone)
( ) No location
Re: Spideroak Kloak: Zero-Knowlege Social Networking
#20Kloak's threat model is advertisers and data-miners. It is an experiment in private social networking. It is part of a set of new applications we are building at SpiderOak. Kloak is more or less a lab experiment in the UX of private systems.
I can't tell you how excited I am to see it. It seems to me that there is no good reason end users shouldn't control their social networking info, to use (e.g., via third party apps, to backup, to migrate) and share as they see fit. > threat model is advertisers and data-miners So many threat models I see are hackers and malware. Those are important, but much more widespread are the threats you identify. > It is part…
I dont think the NSA is the 99% threat model. It is data miners who are building up dossiers on all of us to sell to the highest bidder which will raise costs for all of us in the long run. think Insurance companies raising rates on how often you visit the online whiskey store.
We also released a password manager called Encryptr, but there is a larger project underway that I won;t say anything about yet as I am not in Marketing, etc:)