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Scuttlebot: Peer-to-peer database, identity provider, and messaging system

scuttlebot.io

71–80 of 123 posts

Re: Scuttlebot: Peer-to-peer database, identity provider, and messaging system

#71

Huge fan of Scuttlebutt and think it could (should) be the future of the social internet. I recently quit my job to write about and work on decentralized tech full time with scuttlebutt being my primary focus. I've written about why I think it's so important here: https://adecentralizedworld.com/2020/03/what-is-scuttlebutt/

> Decentralized social networks have been tried before, the two most well known are Diaspora and Mastadon. With these services there [is still moderation]... Scuttlebutt is how I believe the social web should function in the future. Even the Hackernews community which lean towards decentralization more so than the general public would still argue there is value in moderation.

> there is value in moderation

Of course. Everything in moderation, including moderation.

Re: Scuttlebot: Peer-to-peer database, identity provider, and messaging system

#72
post #31

Scuttlebutt is a neat concept, burdened by a bad protocol. Signing a message involves serializing a json object, signing it, adding the signature as a field on that json object, and then serializing it again. To verify, you deserialize the message into an object, remove the signature field, and then reserialize it, and verify the signature against that new serialization. This means that all the clients have to have a…

Ju. G

Re: Scuttlebot: Peer-to-peer database, identity provider, and messaging system

#73
post #7
post #3

I recently discovered SSB and was really intrigued. I would love to hear an experience report from actual users like what is working great, and what is bad.

It's been a while, but I used to be an active SSB user. I hosted SSB pubs and used to post on patchwork semi-regularly. I thought it worked pretty well as a social network. I discovered new and interesting ideas from folks that I don't see much on mainstream social media. I haven't followed the space much recently, and I'm curious about how it has evolved over the last year or so. My favorite memories on SSB: Someone…

> I loved taking my laptop out on the train or to a coffee shop, and replying to threads and publishing a post to SSB while offline. Something about reading other peoples ideas while disconnected, and then writing my thoughts, and having them automatically sync to the network when I got back on my WiFi at home, gave me a different perspective on ways to use technology.

You can do this with Usenet and most BBS's. Most native IM apps will also do this for you, plus of course there's email.

Re: Scuttlebot: Peer-to-peer database, identity provider, and messaging system

#74

Huge fan of Scuttlebutt and think it could (should) be the future of the social internet. I recently quit my job to write about and work on decentralized tech full time with scuttlebutt being my primary focus. I've written about why I think it's so important here: https://adecentralizedworld.com/2020/03/what-is-scuttlebutt/

> Decentralized social networks have been tried before, the two most well known are Diaspora and Mastadon. With these services there [is still moderation]... Scuttlebutt is how I believe the social web should function in the future. Even the Hackernews community which lean towards decentralization more so than the general public would still argue there is value in moderation.

[deleted]

Re: Scuttlebot: Peer-to-peer database, identity provider, and messaging system

#75

Huge fan of Scuttlebutt and think it could (should) be the future of the social internet. I recently quit my job to write about and work on decentralized tech full time with scuttlebutt being my primary focus. I've written about why I think it's so important here: https://adecentralizedworld.com/2020/03/what-is-scuttlebutt/

What other decentralized tech did you find promising (e.g. Dat, AP Fediverse, Solid, IPFS)?

Re: Scuttlebot: Peer-to-peer database, identity provider, and messaging system

#76
post #31

Scuttlebutt is a neat concept, burdened by a bad protocol. Signing a message involves serializing a json object, signing it, adding the signature as a field on that json object, and then serializing it again. To verify, you deserialize the message into an object, remove the signature field, and then reserialize it, and verify the signature against that new serialization. This means that all the clients have to have a…

I spent quite a bit of time with XML digital signatures, which is a similar situation, but with even more surface area to get wrong. Months to implement, over a year to harden.

Re: Scuttlebot: Peer-to-peer database, identity provider, and messaging system

#77

Huge fan of Scuttlebutt and think it could (should) be the future of the social internet. I recently quit my job to write about and work on decentralized tech full time with scuttlebutt being my primary focus. I've written about why I think it's so important here: https://adecentralizedworld.com/2020/03/what-is-scuttlebutt/

> Decentralized social networks have been tried before, the two most well known are Diaspora and Mastadon. With these services there [is still moderation]... Scuttlebutt is how I believe the social web should function in the future. Even the Hackernews community which lean towards decentralization more so than the general public would still argue there is value in moderation.

Without an identity provider scheme that doesn't allow creating unlimited free identities, the spam, scam, and troll problem gets out of hand.

China has a strong identity provider scheme. They tie everyone's phone to their government issued citizen ID.

Re: Scuttlebot: Peer-to-peer database, identity provider, and messaging system

#78
post #55
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was faced with this (signing a structure), I serialized the json into base64, then put that base64 string as a value (along with the MAC) into a new json document. It of course increases deserialization overhead (json, verify, unbase64, inner json) but sidesteps this issue. I thought about sorting keys and other things like that, and the dozen edge cases and potential malleability issues dissuaded me for the c…

Binary protocols. Or out-of-band signing.

Do you mind going deeper here?

Which protocols? Can you point to examples?

Because I was about to design a signing Json solution but based on the comments here it is a bad idea.

Re: Scuttlebot: Peer-to-peer database, identity provider, and messaging system

#79
post #43
post #31

Scuttlebutt is a neat concept, burdened by a bad protocol. Signing a message involves serializing a json object, signing it, adding the signature as a field on that json object, and then serializing it again. To verify, you deserialize the message into an object, remove the signature field, and then reserialize it, and verify the signature against that new serialization. This means that all the clients have to have a…

When I was faced with this (signing a structure), I serialized the json into base64, then put that base64 string as a value (along with the MAC) into a new json document. It of course increases deserialization overhead (json, verify, unbase64, inner json) but sidesteps this issue. I thought about sorting keys and other things like that, and the dozen edge cases and potential malleability issues dissuaded me for the c…

I just use JWTs whenever I have to pass signed messages.

Re: Scuttlebot: Peer-to-peer database, identity provider, and messaging system

#80
post #78
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Binary protocols. Or out-of-band signing.

Do you mind going deeper here? Which protocols? Can you point to examples? Because I was about to design a signing Json solution but based on the comments here it is a bad idea.

Protobuf, cap n proto, and messagepack are a few I've seen before
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