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Introducing Keybase Chat

keybase.io

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Re: Introducing Keybase Chat

#141

Post by indolering »

x1798DE wrote: post #101

The continued fragmentation of chat into walled gardens is really annoying. I feel like Matrix has done a good job not only designing their protocol to be open and federated from the start, but also in that they are actively working to provide bridges to other services. It would be really nice if keybase would work to federate with Matrix servers. (Link to Matrix service, since they have an un-googleable name: https:…

I am convinced that we are cursed to relive this nightmare once a generation:

1. Some chat application blows up in popularity. 2. Everyone looks around and says "Hey, that's an easy problem, let's build a competitor but with feature X and Y!" 3. We are stuck with a nightmarish number of chat apps until someone reverse engineers the protocols for each. 4. The bubble bursts and everyone realizes there wasn't any money in it anyway and goes off to doing something more interesting (like building better PKI). 5. ~10 years goes by and someone finds a new chat niche and the cycle repeats itself.

Re: Introducing Keybase Chat

#142

Post by agravier »

wyager wrote: post #136
cgijoe wrote: post #121

Warning to all OS X users: The Keybase Chat desktop app does a number of shady things that ultimately led me to delete it from my system. I am writing this purely as a public service announcement, to those who worry about installing unknown apps on their Macs. The Keybase Chat app: (1) Requires administrator privileges to launch on first run, to install a "Helper Tool". The app does not explain what this tool does, w…

Ugh. Even if these things are fairly common practice for mac apps, there's no reason that a chat app needs to install a bunch of crap to launch on root. By default, unless absolutely necessary, your app should install with only user-level permissions and should not attempt to insert itself into the boot process. Just let me click on the app when I want to open it. I don't need toolbars, I don't need a launch daemon,…

It's not a chat app. They do those to install the keybase filesystem. The chat is a secondary feature.

Re: Introducing Keybase Chat

#144

Post by jpetso »

zokier wrote: post #50

I'm not really sure about Keybase accumulating more and more services instead of focusing on integrating to existing ones. One of the initial attractions of Keybase (to me at least) was how the system was very simple, transparent, and not really dependent on keybase.io.

Keybase is a VC-funded startup, and this is part of the standard playbook for such companies. Expect more of it from Keybase, and expect it for any other company whose investors are still looking to get a payout on their millions of dollars.

Re: Introducing Keybase Chat

#145

Post by Jaruzel »

Why do all new chat clients look like Slack? We're rapidly moving towards a monoculture of chat UIs.

I'd like to see a return to less intrusive chat apps, with more minimal UIs that don't take up most of the desktop real estate. The most common screen resolution out there? 1366x768. I kid you not. IRC has it's many flaws, but the clients still understood the meaning of good information density.

People seem to forget that chat is a communication medium first and foremost, and not a multimedia based experience.

Re: Introducing Keybase Chat

#146

Post by yAnonymous »

Jaruzel wrote: post #145

Why do all new chat clients look like Slack? We're rapidly moving towards a monoculture of chat UIs. I'd like to see a return to less intrusive chat apps, with more minimal UIs that don't take up most of the desktop real estate. The most common screen resolution out there? 1366x768. I kid you not. IRC has it's many flaws, but the clients still understood the meaning of good information density. People seem to forget…

>Why do all new chat clients look like Slack?

Laziness so they can use the same styles on all devices. For the same reason many websites have mobile style buttons and fonts that are way too big on desktops.

Mobile first sucks if not done properly.

Re: Introducing Keybase Chat

#147

Post by Natanael_L »

malgorithms wrote: post #58
sisk wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is awesome! Thanks! Wondering if you can clarify a bit—what parameters cause a chat to/not to show up in the GUI? Different topics? Different channel names? I have a use for this immediately and am excited to give it a shot!

For program-to-program talking, use the "dev" channel, in a topic of your choice. (By default --topic-type=chat and changing it to dev keeps it out of the GUI) For example: keybase chat send friend1,friend2\ --topic-type=dev\ --topic-name=KEYBASE-SYSOPS\ "server-restart [reason:hot and bothered]" I'll never see this in the GUI but you and your friend1 and friend2, can access the messages through the chat API. The top…

Why is non-PFS the default? You wrote that somewhere in the documentation.

You said something about violating expectations when you sync PFS'd chat contents, but I don't see why that's relevant unless people were promised otherwise.

There's nothing about the encryption algorithm itself that dictates how data going over it should be handled at the endpoints.

Just let users have a regular mode and an off-the-record mode where nothing is kept. Both PFS protected.

Re: Introducing Keybase Chat

#148

Post by Natanael_L »

problems wrote: post #84

I disagree with the idea of allowing backup/restore of conversations defeats forward secrecy. There's a big difference between decrypting past conversations and decrypting chat logs. I have full control over my chat logs, I can choose to delete them, not store them with some people, encrypt them with a different password and rotate them monthly, etc. Even Signal and other apps store all your messages on your device,…

I said the same thing!

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13605810

Worst case, make PFS without sync the default, but include a native feature for pasting into a shared document (Etherpad style, hosted by Keybase) for whatever your want to keep. Then you've got two spaces with different expectations, matching their capabilities.

And for attached files, they'd be displayed in a list while the chat is active, asking if you want to keep them in your keybase storage or let them vanish from the servers when you close the chat (delete their session keys).

Re: Introducing Keybase Chat

#149

Post by thek3nger »

CMay wrote: post #128
malgorithms wrote: post #2

OP here! I had to trim the post down for brevity, but I thought the HN community in particular might be interested in the API side of things. Undocumented in the post: you can invent channels for app-to-app communication from the JSON API. For example, it's possible with Keybase chat to have a program posting encrypted messages for another person or program, without cluttering up the visual chat interface. Also - to…

One thing I've noticed so far is that with the Keybase desktop client on Windows 10, the "Reddit Form" button for submitting a proof didn't work for me. It just fails silently and doesn't open a browser window or whatever it's supposed to do. Additionally I am curious why on Reddit people have to post a wall of text, while on Twitter you only have to post a small tweet? Is there some reason people can't just paste th…

Same problem here.

Re: Introducing Keybase Chat

#150

Post by lelf »

rw wrote: post #124
cgijoe wrote: post #121

Warning to all OS X users: The Keybase Chat desktop app does a number of shady things that ultimately led me to delete it from my system. I am writing this purely as a public service announcement, to those who worry about installing unknown apps on their Macs. The Keybase Chat app: (1) Requires administrator privileges to launch on first run, to install a "Helper Tool". The app does not explain what this tool does, w…

How did you find these changes?

For instance, fs_usage(1)
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