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What is this Gemini thing, and why am I excited about it? (2020)

drewdevault.com

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Re: What is this Gemini thing, and why am I excited about it? (2020)

#51

This name is so overused that when I see it, I think I know the project in several different contexts. Choose another name… please.

That ship has sailed a while ago. Gemini is already the established name, and doesn't clash with other names in its context.

Re: What is this Gemini thing, and why am I excited about it? (2020)

#53

I've been a reader of this gemlog and a fan of Gemini, I have been looking at minimal featured Gemini servers (everyone seems to be building one) and looking for one specifically that offers an http mirror, text and maybe inline images only. Particularly I'd like to do everything in markdown, does anyone know of a good one?

Kineto might be what you're looking for: https://sr.ht/~sircmpwn/kineto/ Inline images is a violation of the Gemini spec: > clients MUST NOT automatically make any network connections as part of displaying links whose scheme corresponds to a network protocol (e.g. links beginning with gemini://, gopher://, https:// , ftp:// , etc.).

Isn't it OK to offer that option, but disabled by default?

Re: What is this Gemini thing, and why am I excited about it? (2020)

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think "dumber" is a feature in this case.

It really isn't. If you want people to use it, you have to provide some utility. If you just want to make a point about how things could be different, you may as well print up stickers that say 'get off the internet and talk to people in person'.

> If you want people to use it, you have to provide some utility

People do use it, though.

> you may as well print up stickers that say 'get off the internet and talk to people in person'.

Gemini is basically a movement in this direction

Re: What is this Gemini thing, and why am I excited about it? (2020)

#55

What’s something interesting to read that’s on Gemini?

Not much, unless you follow some of the bloggers on it. It's a nice idea, but doesn't really have anything to recommend it over just making a website without javascript and ads.

Re: What is this Gemini thing, and why am I excited about it? (2020)

#56
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.onion addresses are hashes, but a hash long enough to prevent a brute forcing is also too long for people to consistently recognize. Is facebookwkhpilnemxj7asaniu7vnjjbiltxjghye3mhbshg7kx5tfyd.onion the right URL for Facebook or a clever near-collision?

This is only true if you limit yourself to standard character based hash representations.

I feel like whatever scheme you use, if it is too simple there won't be enough unique keys to go around, but if it is complex enough it can be subtly changed in ways a human would find hard to notice.

Re: What is this Gemini thing, and why am I excited about it? (2020)

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kineto might be what you're looking for: https://sr.ht/~sircmpwn/kineto/ Inline images is a violation of the Gemini spec: > clients MUST NOT automatically make any network connections as part of displaying links whose scheme corresponds to a network protocol (e.g. links beginning with gemini://, gopher://, https:// , ftp:// , etc.).

Isn't it OK to offer that option, but disabled by default?

It's not OK in the sense that it is a spec violation, at least. Some clients have images that load in-line on mouseover or click, which isn't a spec violation. You could do that with HTML.

Re: What is this Gemini thing, and why am I excited about it? (2020)

#58
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.onion addresses are hashes, but a hash long enough to prevent a brute forcing is also too long for people to consistently recognize. Is facebookwkhpilnemxj7asaniu7vnjjbiltxjghye3mhbshg7kx5tfyd.onion the right URL for Facebook or a clever near-collision?

This is only true if you limit yourself to standard character based hash representations.

The limit is much more about how many bits a human is capable of distinguishing reliably at a glance, which I think is very likely below the brute-forcible level

Re: What is this Gemini thing, and why am I excited about it? (2020)

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Restricting Gemini to just long-form text (one way consumption) is really reducing the possibilities Gemini can have, IMO. Though the whole minimalist attitude would probably preclude most of them.

> reducing the possibilities Gemini can have Gemini is all about reducing possibilities. If you want more possibilities, use the web IMO

Fair. I certainly think that type of simplistic Gemini has a place in the world.

But I think ">If you want more possibilities, use the web IMO" goes against the minimalist ethos of Gemini as well; I don't want something as bloated as the web, but perhaps I do want a comment section of my posts? I think that's not too bloated to be thrown in with the rest of the web. But it might very well be too bloated to throw into Gemini, which is reasonable.

Footnote: An email alongside the post + the author editing the post with meaningful and thoughtful contributions could perhaps be a substitute.

Re: What is this Gemini thing, and why am I excited about it? (2020)

#60

I understand the desire to use trust-on-first-use to get rid of certificate authorities (some of the most dispicable and untrustworthy organizations around, and the largest security hole in TLS). However trust-on-first-use basically hands any long-term man-in-the-middle a complete victory. Authoritarian regimes are going to require ISPs to mitm every connection from first use, and hand over whatever data is desired t…

People, or businesses, that you know in real life could exchange certificate hashes in person. This is one of those things that usually garners the response "normal people would never do that", but honestly I'm surprised that no-one has even tried. Let's say that web browsers put a short hash of the certificate right in the URL bar. Amazon, for example, could print its hash on every shipping box. Banks could print th…

Many years ago, I was put into a situation where I had to start using online banking. Being skeptical about security, I asked for something along the lines of a certificate hash that could be verified in person. They couldn't answer that. So I tried asking how I could verify that the certificate displayed by the web browser was correct. They couldn't answer that. In the end, I ended up trusting the padlock icon and being left with the impression that commercial security was mostly about the illusion of security. To this day I'm left with the impression that some sort of MITM attack would be possible through the creative abuse of certificate issuers and proxies since there is no direct means of verifying the certificate is authentic. And they won't take that final step since it shatters the illusion of security being simple.
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