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BitTorrent Chat - Private instant messaging via secure, distributed technology

labs.bittorrent.com

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Re: BitTorrent Chat - Private instant messaging via secure, distributed technology

#21

Post by vezzy-fnord »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #11
PhearTheCeal wrote: post #4

Sounds similar to already existing Open-Source projects, like Tox[1] (which was discussed on HN a couple months ago[2].) Questions for both projects still remain though: What sort of metadata can be collected from users of these programs? How can that metadata be used? Are there any security vulnerabilities that have been overlooked? We are still a ways from having truly secure chat as the mainstream communication me…

The problem I have with Tox is that it's 90% hype and 10% product. They spent all their time working on a nice website and building hype. That "screenshot" on the front page is a mockup, the Tox project isn't even close to that degree of completion. I'd love to see them succeed, but I doubt it will. Especially with the recent falling-out among their primary developers.

Development is actually going fairly well. It's just that there's a whole bunch of changes that haven't been pulled to the main repository, but there's definite progress with streaming media and other aspects.

Re: BitTorrent Chat - Private instant messaging via secure, distributed technology

#22

Post by mike-cardwell »

utnick wrote: post #9

There has been a lot of interesting development on the secure chat front lately ( secure circle, textsecure, heml.is, cryptocat etc ). Not sure if bittorrent chat will be very interesting. Most secure chat clients encrypt on the client side so the server won't be able to read your messages, so not sure if not having a server is that big of a win here. I'm also guessing metadata would be exposed to various people on t…

You may also want to check https://pond.imperialviolet.org

Re: BitTorrent Chat - Private instant messaging via secure, distributed technology

#23

Post by entropyneur »

bluedevmonkey wrote: post #7

What's with [RetroShare](retroshare.sourceforge.net)? Another question: What's the sense of a tool that nobody of your friends uses, especially in social networking? The will not migrate until Facebook etc. shut down

AFAIK every successful IM platform out there is successful because of this effect. Users push their peers to adopt the new IM because without their friends it's not very useful to them.

Of course there should be a good reason for the "seed" users to get on the new platform in the first place.

Re: BitTorrent Chat - Private instant messaging via secure, distributed technology

#25

Post by ajross »

egeozcan wrote: post #20
Karunamon wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In any other context I would dismiss this comment as a troll, but yeah.. Any program that passes itself off as "secure" and is closed source, in this climate, is immediately suspect.

Exactly. "Yeah, we designed something, just trust us and hand over all your data". They don't have to make it free, just open the source!

To be fair: charging for peer-to-peer software that is freely redistributable doesn't work as a business model. You make money in open source by selling related services (e.g. github, Android) or support (Red Hat). You can't do it by licensing the product.

That doesn't invalidate the point above though that in the modern world a tool like this can only be considered "secure" if the implementation(s) are completely open. It's just a poor product decision on the part of BitTorrent.

Re: BitTorrent Chat - Private instant messaging via secure, distributed technology

#26

Post by egeozcan »

utnick wrote: post #9

There has been a lot of interesting development on the secure chat front lately ( secure circle, textsecure, heml.is, cryptocat etc ). Not sure if bittorrent chat will be very interesting. Most secure chat clients encrypt on the client side so the server won't be able to read your messages, so not sure if not having a server is that big of a win here. I'm also guessing metadata would be exposed to various people on t…

I must say, I have very limited knowledge on encryption, but, can't an observer possibly encrypt many possible and likely short messages (like, "hey!" or "lol") with the public keys of some users of value and sniff the network for matches? I mean it would take a while, maybe a week, to get some results but hey, I think it's a possibility.

Re: BitTorrent Chat - Private instant messaging via secure, distributed technology

#27

Post by dmd »

plg wrote: post #15

I remember the old days when one person on a unix machine could chat with another person on a unix machine using the unix talk command, (piped over ssh for security) I had many a conversation with my thesis supervisor this way, once when I was in France and he was in Japan. PS no third party server involved, obviously. Just my box and the recipient box. I suppose one could do a man in the middle attack but we would a…

You may enjoy using http://typeto.me/ (when it's behaving, which it doesn't seem to be right now)

Re: BitTorrent Chat - Private instant messaging via secure, distributed technology

#28

Post by bluedevmonkey »

quantumpotato_ wrote: post #10
bluedevmonkey wrote: post #7

What's with [RetroShare](retroshare.sourceforge.net)? Another question: What's the sense of a tool that nobody of your friends uses, especially in social networking? The will not migrate until Facebook etc. shut down

Educate them.

the most difficult task in the whole world. and they have to be excited... but where I live, nobody gives a sh.t what NSA does with all the private data.

Re: BitTorrent Chat - Private instant messaging via secure, distributed technology

#29

Post by egeozcan »

ajross wrote: post #25
egeozcan wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. "Yeah, we designed something, just trust us and hand over all your data". They don't have to make it free, just open the source!

To be fair: charging for peer-to-peer software that is freely redistributable doesn't work as a business model. You make money in open source by selling related services (e.g. github, Android) or support (Red Hat). You can't do it by licensing the product. That doesn't invalidate the point above though that in the modern world a tool like this can only be considered "secure" if the implementation(s) are completely op…

You are right. I see a lot of companies that do well with the support model though. What's their business model with this as it is today anyway?

Re: BitTorrent Chat - Private instant messaging via secure, distributed technology

#30

Post by StavrosK »

plg wrote: post #15

I remember the old days when one person on a unix machine could chat with another person on a unix machine using the unix talk command, (piped over ssh for security) I had many a conversation with my thesis supervisor this way, once when I was in France and he was in Japan. PS no third party server involved, obviously. Just my box and the recipient box. I suppose one could do a man in the middle attack but we would a…

A MITM would relay your chats, MITM isn't impersonation.
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