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Show HN: Anonymous messaging with a 1km radius

zonemessenger.com

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Re: Show HN: Anonymous messaging with a 1km radius

#131

Post by pjlegato »

netsharc wrote: post #49
JulianMorrison wrote: post #39

Anonymous messaging has proven in practise to be full of cruel gossip, hate speech, and bullying. I can't see a positive use for it, really.

From the screenshot: "I'm at X, who wants to get coffee?" Are people this social, and this lonely? "Let me spend this 30 minutes of free time to talk to some random potential weirdo!"

What's so weird about wanting to share your coffee with someone? The screenshot shows someone riding a train -- presumably they are in a distant city where they don't know anyone.

Re: Show HN: Anonymous messaging with a 1km radius

#132

Post by pjlegato »

theveloped wrote: post #47
anotheryou wrote: post #26

Can you make the zone adaptive so there are always at least a few people there?

This is one of the biggest decisions I've had to make based. The current implementation requires a huge critical mass before there are enough local users. Because as of now I'm not perusing making any money from the app, I opted to test the feasibility of the core idea. Talking to local people. One could of course argue that I could deviate from this slightly (variable range) to reach this critical mass.

I'm in San Francisco right now, a dense, large city with a huge tech-savvy population. There seems to be one other person online at the moment. I guess there are probably more online elsewhere in SF, just not within 1km of me.

Adapting the radius to match the number of people available seems like a great idea. If there's only one person within 1km, step up to 2km, 3km, etc. until some number X of people are available. If there are too many people, step back down.

Re: Show HN: Anonymous messaging with a 1km radius

#133

Post by secfirstmd »

badwolf wrote: post #64
jamesfisher wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tinder once had this exact problem. You could find users' exact locations via triangulation, since the API reported an exact distance from your location: http://blog.includesecurity.com/2014/02/how-i-was-able-to-tr...

Grindr as well, which due to the nature of that app could have had bad effects should someone with ill-intent take advantage. There were even a few apps in the Google Play store that would pinpoint other grindr users.

Yep, this is a big problem in the human rights space these days. When we train on apps with LGBT communities in the Middle East and Africa, we have to spend a lot of time on this issue.

More info: https://grindrmap.neocities.org/

Comparison amongst gay dating apps (from 2014) https://grindrmap.neocities.org/overview.html

Re: Show HN: Anonymous messaging with a 1km radius

#135

Post by civilian »

bo1024 wrote: post #129
theveloped wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Due to the fact that distance matching is done server side the application doesn't have any knowledge with regard to distance. The only knowledge one has is whether or not one receives messages from an other user. Using triangulation to pinpoint an other users location would therefore require to move in and out of range (while the targeted user is continuously sending messages). Thus significantly more difficult than…

I can't tell how it works from the site, but a good approach is to randomize the distance threshold a bit each time. For example: if users are within 1km, always connect; if more than 2km apart, never connect; 1.xkm apart, connect with probability x. That kind of thing combined with some rate limits (how often one can attempt to connect to a user) should be effective. (edit) Actually, I think I like mseebach's sugges…

Heh, it's like salting their location.

Re: Show HN: Anonymous messaging with a 1km radius

#136

Post by [deleted] »

ItsDeathball wrote: post #130
debt wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the anonymous angle. Why does everything have to be anonymous now? Like, you know if it uses the internet or touches a switch/router/server etc outside of your own home at any point that it's certainly, most definitely NOT anonymous at this point. Anonymous has become a pointless buzzword in this NSA-era we be living in. Just say it's a hyper-local instant messaging app, because any half woke indiv…

There is a difference between the NSA being able to trace your identity vs. a profit-driven corporation being able to connect your identity to your online speech, location, and contacts. The first is governed by due process and need-to-know, the second is essentially public knowledge if the ad-tech revenue is sufficiently tempting. Even in a pseudonymous environment where the venue operator presumably knows who you a…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Anonymous messaging with a 1km radius

#137

Post by pbhjpbhj »

pjlegato wrote: post #131
netsharc wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the screenshot: "I'm at X, who wants to get coffee?" Are people this social, and this lonely? "Let me spend this 30 minutes of free time to talk to some random potential weirdo!"

What's so weird about wanting to share your coffee with someone? The screenshot shows someone riding a train -- presumably they are in a distant city where they don't know anyone.

It seems like it would be less problematic to approach a person and ask if they could show you around or, offer to buy someone in a coffee shop another drink rather than using a technical means that allows the other party to select themselves?

Re: Show HN: Anonymous messaging with a 1km radius

#138

Post by qq66 »

7952 wrote: post #88
bradbeattie wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could this be defeated by a "snap to grid" technique? The installed client takes the actual location of the user and locates the nearest grid point (the resolution of which is up for debate) and reports as at that location?

Or increase the radius randomly after a pair of users have communicated for the first time.

That's not sufficient because a hostile actor could have three phones with three accounts.

Re: Show HN: Anonymous messaging with a 1km radius

#139

Post by yarou »

civilian wrote: post #135
bo1024 wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't tell how it works from the site, but a good approach is to randomize the distance threshold a bit each time. For example: if users are within 1km, always connect; if more than 2km apart, never connect; 1.xkm apart, connect with probability x. That kind of thing combined with some rate limits (how often one can attempt to connect to a user) should be effective. (edit) Actually, I think I like mseebach's sugges…

Heh, it's like salting their location.

Believe it or not, but this is exactly what the Chinese government mandates. It's known as China shifting[0], and can cause quite a lot of headaches.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_d...

Re: Show HN: Anonymous messaging with a 1km radius

#140

Post by twothamendment »

sjm wrote: post #93
anotheryou wrote: post #26

Can you make the zone adaptive so there are always at least a few people there?

Funny that you mention this, as I've literally just submitted this exact app to Apple and should hopefully be launching in the next few days. The app is called hoody ( https://hoody.im ) and I can't wait to post it to HN. I was actually a bit bummed to see this as I figured they had _just_ beaten me to the post, but in fact our apps are slightly different. It's anonymous, with auto-generated nicknames as well, but th…

That is great to hear. Your app resolves what I was going to leave as feedback. 1) Not everyone is in a city. I'm in an area where a 1km in any direction might not get you anyone. Some areas 2km circle might get a handful of neighbors, but none of them are likely to have the app too. 2) When the app is new, what are they chances that anyone nearby has it?

By increasing the range until there is activity, it gives it a way to get off the ground and a way for it to work for people who aren't packed in a city.

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