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Wire messenger server code open-sourced

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Re: Wire messenger server code open-sourced

#41

Post by walterbell »

zedred wrote: post #34
walterbell wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you share details on "security is still way behind Signal"? Edit: found previous discussion, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13132157

I haven't directly explored the source for either in little while, so I should take a new look. I might be a little out of date, but the things that I have seen second hand recently confirmed my earlier conclusions. Like I recently saw an announcement from Wire that calls are now secure, but they had been advertising them as secure all along! I had even spent time looking through the code but didn't know that calls w…

Did you see that they implemented CBR for audio calls and submitted patches to both Signal and WebRTC?

https://medium.com/@wireapp/call-security-constant-bit-rate-...

Re: Wire messenger server code open-sourced

#43

Post by true_religion »

fullsage wrote: post #24

The title for this post should be changed to "a piece of the wire messenger server code open sourced." Most of the source is not open source, you can't run your own. Also, holy shit they're storing a lot of information about their users: * All of your contacts. * Unencrypted profile information for everyone. * Every active conversation you have. * Every archived conversation you have. * The frequency that you communi…

Sounds like the amount of information a typical web forum stores about its users private messages.

I am not saying if this is good or bad in general, but just... I could live with it in 2005 when Vbulletin was all the rage, and I can live with it now.

Also, other chat clients like Skype, Paltalk, Yahoo Messenger, Facebook Messenger also store this information---its kind of a requirement to do any kind of search over previous messages, and allow people to find their contacts or talk to random unacquainted individuals.

Maybe this is a big negative for Wire if their PR basically touts "security" and "encryption", when the reality is they want to be secure against middlemen only.

Re: Wire messenger server code open-sourced

#46

Post by Xylakant »

jhasse wrote: post #45
unicornporn wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just tried https://conversations.im/ and I must I'm very impressed.

The clients on everything except Android all suck.

To add to that, try enabling omemo across 4 different OS (Andoid, iOS, MacOS and Linux) and you'll want to burn all of your devices. Messages showing up on some devices randomly or not, etc. nice thing in general and I really like the idea of xmpp, but not exactly user-friendly for non-technical folks.

Re: Wire messenger server code open-sourced

#48

Post by giancarlostoro »

seagreen wrote: post #23
giancarlostoro wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not arguing against it or anything just pointing it out. AGPL keeps the lights on whilst still letting others play with it and contribute.

I understood you! I just wanted to add a few reasons why I (generally an open > libre guy) don't mind the AGPL in this case.

Understood, I only worry about AGPL if I'm working on a similar product for commercial work I would absolutely avoid looking at the code. Some licenses are fine for some companies, others are a nightmare. Apparently D had that issue for example.

Re: Wire messenger server code open-sourced

#49

Post by giancarlostoro »

milesrout wrote: post #38
giancarlostoro wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also mind the license. It means anyone competing with Wire has to comply with the AGPL which is specific to servers. If you modify the code, you must publish it, whilst Wire can retain their own modifications to the server.

That's not accurate at all. If you contribute back changes to it then they have to comply with the license too and publish the source.

The entire purpose of the AGPL is that users of the server are now users of your program, so having access to the code is their right. IANAL but this is how I've always understood the AGPL to work.

See:

https://tldrlegal.com/license/gnu-affero-general-public-lice...

Edit:

See also their own FAQ:

http://www.affero.org/oagf.html#How_does_the_Affero_Public_L...

Re: Wire messenger server code open-sourced

#50

Post by Propen »

walterbell wrote: post #30
zedred wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was hopeful at first. A large VC funded company with a big full time team should run circles around a small open source effort, but their security is still way behind Signal. I was also quickly put off by their "less than honest" marketing.

Could you share details on "security is still way behind Signal"? Edit: found previous discussion, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13132157

https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/10/messaging-app-wire-now-has...
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