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Show HN: We built an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Photos

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Show HN: We built an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Photos

#31

Post by vishnumohandas »

perryizgr8 wrote: post #15

This looks very good and the pricing plans are reasonable. However I want something locally hosted. I will pay to buy the software and run it on my own equipment. I really don't want to keep paying a subscription perpetually in order to store my photos.

Thanks! ente is currently not directed at an audience that has the knowledge to set up and maintain a reliable storage infrastructure. We had started off on the self-hosting route and then realized the difficulties in scaling such a product in the consumer space. So we have for now decided to direct our limited bandwidth into making the product accessible. Sorry about that.

Re: Show HN: We built an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Photos

#33

Post by user-the-name »

mynameismon wrote: post #21
ridaj wrote: post #13

What are your plans for when your app is found to host content such as terrorist executions, child porn, etc.? (This isn't trolling, it's something that eventually happens with every product, and I've been wanting a non-Google version myself but wondering how that kind of abuse would be dealt with.)

I don't think they would be able to do anything about it, since (from what I could infer from reading) it is zero-knowledge, so no one from the company can access the pictures. I might be wrong, though

Yes, and that is a problem.

Re: Show HN: We built an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Photos

#34

Post by olah_1 »

ridaj wrote: post #13

What are your plans for when your app is found to host content such as terrorist executions, child porn, etc.? (This isn't trolling, it's something that eventually happens with every product, and I've been wanting a non-Google version myself but wondering how that kind of abuse would be dealt with.)

the answer is right here https://ente.io/transparency

Re: Show HN: We built an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Photos

#35

Post by LightG »

benbristow wrote: post #23

Your homepage says "protect your photos/faces etc. from algorithms" The algorithms are what makes Google Photos; Google Photos. If I wanted to just store my photos I'd throw them in a S3 bucket or Dropbox or something. Google Photos lets me automatically categorise my photos by person, lets me search my library using text search for anything (e.g. I can search 'museum' and see pictures I've taken in museums). That is…

You're willing to pay the price of those algorithms and the Google ecosystem. Others are not.

I'm excited to review this project. Thanks to the creators.

This has come at a perfect moment ... as, this weekend, I'm literally downloading my entire Google photos archive (one year at a time) to my local harddrive and figuring out a way forward.

I'm done with Google after a 'straw breaking the camels back' moment with their payment system.

Re: Show HN: We built an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Photos

#36

Post by gizdan »

benbristow wrote: post #23

Your homepage says "protect your photos/faces etc. from algorithms" The algorithms are what makes Google Photos; Google Photos. If I wanted to just store my photos I'd throw them in a S3 bucket or Dropbox or something. Google Photos lets me automatically categorise my photos by person, lets me search my library using text search for anything (e.g. I can search 'museum' and see pictures I've taken in museums). That is…

On top of this, good algorithms should be run if it is possible to do it in a privacy friendly way.

Re: Show HN: We built an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Photos

#37

Post by pilingual »

Re: Shared Albums

>the receiver just needs a free ente account.

I feel like there should be an even more frictionless option to make it easy for family to access photos. For example, if there were a way to just trigger a mailing list when an album is added to, that would be perfect. “Here is an update on our trip: [link]” I love that you mention you are security and privacy focused, and I see how this could conflict with that mission. Perhaps a tradeoff here could be allowing one viewing via link and future viewings require account?

Re: Show HN: We built an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Photos

#38

Post by user-the-name »

YPPH wrote: post #30
explodingcamera wrote: post #8

This is looks super cool, however not something I'd be interested in using myself if I can't selfhost it (at least it looks like thats not possible from the website).

Self-hosting a zero knowledge service is probably unnecessary. If you're hosting the service, there's no need for data to be encrypted client-side. Unless, of course, you were intending on running the service on a public cloud which you didn't control, but that's something I don't think many privacy conscious folk would do. There's plenty of open source, self-hosted alternatives to Google Photos.

How do you know it's zero knowledge?

Re: Show HN: We built an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Photos

#39

Post by cf_ »

ridaj wrote: post #13

What are your plans for when your app is found to host content such as terrorist executions, child porn, etc.? (This isn't trolling, it's something that eventually happens with every product, and I've been wanting a non-Google version myself but wondering how that kind of abuse would be dealt with.)

Since it‘s a paid service with user accounts. You would be able to ban users that have been reported to use this service for illegal means. The same question can be asked to WhatsApp / iMessage / Signal / etc.

Re: Show HN: We built an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Photos

#40

Post by sneak »

Why does this app need to link my identifiers and contact info to my identity?

I would feel a lot more comfortable with this if it didn't collect any data of mine, and you were just storing ciphertext.

I don't want an account, and I don't want to give you my name or email.

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