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Ripple – Chat with people nearby

ripplechat.io

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Re: Ripple – Chat with people nearby

#11

Post by joe_the_user »

est wrote: post #9

WeChat (by Tencent) has similar feature, but you must first add people to friend list then chat. However this raise an interesting topic: How to securely verify that a device is indeed nearby and not spoofing it? You can spoof your GPS coordinates easily on Android at least.

Why would that be a problem?

Your location should not be an identifying value but more or less a topic.

Being able to set your parameters to some location somewhere and chat with "random people" there seems like a feature, not a bug.

Re: Ripple – Chat with people nearby

#13

Post by shousper »

est wrote: post #9

WeChat (by Tencent) has similar feature, but you must first add people to friend list then chat. However this raise an interesting topic: How to securely verify that a device is indeed nearby and not spoofing it? You can spoof your GPS coordinates easily on Android at least.

Who cares? If I'm on a train heading home, I don't want my conversation terminated because I get too far away. Just link the rooms to one or more relevant locations so people can find them initially, then let people favourite them or whatever so they can rejoin later without having to be in that location.

Yeah?

EDIT: typo.

Re: Ripple – Chat with people nearby

#14

Post by est »

joe_the_user wrote: post #11
est wrote: post #9

WeChat (by Tencent) has similar feature, but you must first add people to friend list then chat. However this raise an interesting topic: How to securely verify that a device is indeed nearby and not spoofing it? You can spoof your GPS coordinates easily on Android at least.

Why would that be a problem? Your location should not be an identifying value but more or less a topic. Being able to set your parameters to some location somewhere and chat with "random people" there seems like a feature, not a bug.

> Why would that be a problem?

Hmm, the same reason you wanna keep your conversations private?

I can think of few cases, like if you want to giving nearby people coupons, I mean really nearby, not random guy on the other side of the planet trying to re-sell your coupons.

How to use a non-hackish, non-intrusive way to make content exclusive to local users?

Providing an ad-hoc wifi is not the solution because people may need public Internet activities and a device can connect only to one access point at a time.

Re: Ripple – Chat with people nearby

#16

Post by orta »

I've been using the beta since it came out and have loved the way the app has grown. I'm really interested in seeing its potential in conferences or large towns.

It's small and well focused, they've opened some code from it and seem to be doing a good job of being active in chat. Give it a try.

Re: Ripple – Chat with people nearby

#20

Post by nl »

est wrote: post #14
joe_the_user wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would that be a problem? Your location should not be an identifying value but more or less a topic. Being able to set your parameters to some location somewhere and chat with "random people" there seems like a feature, not a bug.

> Why would that be a problem? Hmm, the same reason you wanna keep your conversations private? I can think of few cases, like if you want to giving nearby people coupons, I mean really nearby, not random guy on the other side of the planet trying to re-sell your coupons. How to use a non-hackish, non-intrusive way to make content exclusive to local users? Providing an ad-hoc wifi is not the solution because people ma…

The edge cases just aren't worth doing any extra work for.
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