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Show HN: Discuo – Anonymous discussions with infinite branching and 24h lifespan

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Re: Show HN: Discuo – Anonymous discussions with infinite branching and 24h lifespan

#41

Post by Forbo »

This is a pseudonymous system, not anonymous. The "anonymity" is entirely dependent on the salt. Unless you literally have no way of complying with a court order to hand over a user's IP, making any claims of anonymity is just flat out irresponsible. I hope no whistleblowers attempt to use this platform without a lot more consideration and countermeasures taken.

Sorry for the rant, I just really hate how much of a buzzword anonymity has become when nearly every claim of it falls on its face.

Re: Show HN: Discuo – Anonymous discussions with infinite branching and 24h lifespan

#42

Post by drdruide »

Forbo wrote: post #41

This is a pseudonymous system, not anonymous. The "anonymity" is entirely dependent on the salt. Unless you literally have no way of complying with a court order to hand over a user's IP, making any claims of anonymity is just flat out irresponsible. I hope no whistleblowers attempt to use this platform without a lot more consideration and countermeasures taken. Sorry for the rant, I just really hate how much of a bu…

I'm open to discussion on how to improve the system if you have any ideas or suggestions.

Re: Show HN: Discuo – Anonymous discussions with infinite branching and 24h lifespan

#43

Post by Forbo »

drdruide wrote: post #42
Forbo wrote: post #41

This is a pseudonymous system, not anonymous. The "anonymity" is entirely dependent on the salt. Unless you literally have no way of complying with a court order to hand over a user's IP, making any claims of anonymity is just flat out irresponsible. I hope no whistleblowers attempt to use this platform without a lot more consideration and countermeasures taken. Sorry for the rant, I just really hate how much of a bu…

I'm open to discussion on how to improve the system if you have any ideas or suggestions.

Don't call it anonymous if it isn't actually anonymous.

Re: Show HN: Discuo – Anonymous discussions with infinite branching and 24h lifespan

#44

Post by drdruide »

mouse_ wrote: post #33

How are you going to avoid all the problems - moral, legal, and ethical - that other image boards face?

A moderation system has already been set up and used for several bans, and it works well. If there are more and more visits, I'll recruit someone for 24/7!

Re: Show HN: Discuo – Anonymous discussions with infinite branching and 24h lifespan

#45

Post by drdruide »

Forbo wrote: post #43
drdruide wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm open to discussion on how to improve the system if you have any ideas or suggestions.

Don't call it anonymous if it isn't actually anonymous.

It's anonymous.

Re: Show HN: Discuo – Anonymous discussions with infinite branching and 24h lifespan

#46

Post by Forbo »

drdruide wrote: post #45
Forbo wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't call it anonymous if it isn't actually anonymous.

It's anonymous.

So if you were served a technical assistance order you would have no way of complying with that? How are you using a salt that you have no way of knowing/observing/recovering? What protection measures are employed to prevent the salt from being recovered from memory or otherwise dumped via some other exploit? Please be detailed, as matters of anonymity can usually be boiled down to life changing consequences for those involved.

Re: Show HN: Discuo – Anonymous discussions with infinite branching and 24h lifespan

#47

Post by drdruide »

Forbo wrote: post #46
drdruide wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's anonymous.

So if you were served a technical assistance order you would have no way of complying with that? How are you using a salt that you have no way of knowing/observing/recovering? What protection measures are employed to prevent the salt from being recovered from memory or otherwise dumped via some other exploit? Please be detailed, as matters of anonymity can usually be boiled down to life changing consequences for thos…

The system is designed with multiple layers of privacy and security: - IP Hashing: One-way SHA-256 hashing with environmental salt ; Original IPs are never stored, only hashes ; Even with server access, original IPs can't be recovered; Server memory only processes hashes, never stores raw IPs - Per-Category Anonymity: Different poster IDs per category using separate salts ; Double-hashing mechanism: first for global ID, then for category-specific ID ; Cross-category correlation is mathematically impossible ; Each context generates a unique, unrelated identifier - Technical Assistance Compliance: I can provide hashed data and salting mechanisms; I can track specific hashed IPs if required; I can ban users without knowing their real IPs; But I technically cannot reverse the hashes to original IPs

The system balances legal compliance with user privacy - I can assist investigations through hash matching while maintaining technical inability to reverse-identify users. This is not about avoiding compliance, it's about responsible data minimization. The architecture ensures I can't provide what I don't have, while still maintaining effective moderation capabilities.

Re: Show HN: Discuo – Anonymous discussions with infinite branching and 24h lifespan

#48

Post by Forbo »

drdruide wrote: post #47
Forbo wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if you were served a technical assistance order you would have no way of complying with that? How are you using a salt that you have no way of knowing/observing/recovering? What protection measures are employed to prevent the salt from being recovered from memory or otherwise dumped via some other exploit? Please be detailed, as matters of anonymity can usually be boiled down to life changing consequences for thos…

The system is designed with multiple layers of privacy and security: - IP Hashing: One-way SHA-256 hashing with environmental salt ; Original IPs are never stored, only hashes ; Even with server access, original IPs can't be recovered; Server memory only processes hashes, never stores raw IPs - Per-Category Anonymity: Different poster IDs per category using separate salts ; Double-hashing mechanism: first for global…

How has the server been blinded from the hashing mechanism? Is this happening on different hardware, or facilitated through API calls to another server or something?

Genuinely curious as I think anonymous discussions are awesome but hate the kind of stuff that comes along with other anonymous image boards. Truly hope this is successful and results in a wonderful thriving community.

Re: Show HN: Discuo – Anonymous discussions with infinite branching and 24h lifespan

#49

Post by hiatus »

drdruide wrote: post #47
Forbo wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if you were served a technical assistance order you would have no way of complying with that? How are you using a salt that you have no way of knowing/observing/recovering? What protection measures are employed to prevent the salt from being recovered from memory or otherwise dumped via some other exploit? Please be detailed, as matters of anonymity can usually be boiled down to life changing consequences for thos…

The system is designed with multiple layers of privacy and security: - IP Hashing: One-way SHA-256 hashing with environmental salt ; Original IPs are never stored, only hashes ; Even with server access, original IPs can't be recovered; Server memory only processes hashes, never stores raw IPs - Per-Category Anonymity: Different poster IDs per category using separate salts ; Double-hashing mechanism: first for global…

IP space is not huge, if you use the same salt for each IP it is trivially reversed.

Re: Show HN: Discuo – Anonymous discussions with infinite branching and 24h lifespan

#50

Post by dreis_sw »

grayhatter wrote: post #36
dreis_sw wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily there’s an easy fix, enabling JavaScript like a regular human being :p Honestly curious though, do you generally browse the web without JavaScript?

Yes, I do. The day uMatrix finally stops functioning will be an awful day. Excluding cute PoC sites, and demos; sites that function without javascript are objectively superior every way to sites that can't function without js. Though I admit that's correlative more than causative. Also, the point isn't to be a regular human being, it's to be a hacker, or engineer, or, [other]. Why be boring (regular) when you can be…

Interesting, and completely agree with both your remarks, but how does it relate to disabling JavaScript? What are you getting out of it, other than making the web less usable for yourself?
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