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Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

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Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#331

Post by [deleted] »

pizzafeelsright wrote: post #234
deweller wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cryptocurrency transfers are irreversible, publicly verifiable and pseudonymous. For a privacy focused application, these attributes make crypto a better choice than USD and the traditional banking system.

How? Irreversible is bad because mistakes happen. I lost ~$1,000 in a bad transfer because of a typo. Publicly verifiable -- not good because I don't want the public knowing what I buy. Pseudonymous is the worst of both. Is it or is it not me? them? I am thinking digital cash using pub keys on a network run from space on something like starlink sats.

[deleted]

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#332

Post by johnisgood »

pizzafeelsright wrote: post #234
deweller wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cryptocurrency transfers are irreversible, publicly verifiable and pseudonymous. For a privacy focused application, these attributes make crypto a better choice than USD and the traditional banking system.

How? Irreversible is bad because mistakes happen. I lost ~$1,000 in a bad transfer because of a typo. Publicly verifiable -- not good because I don't want the public knowing what I buy. Pseudonymous is the worst of both. Is it or is it not me? them? I am thinking digital cash using pub keys on a network run from space on something like starlink sats.

Advice: next time pay attention before sending, all wallets ask for confirmation prior to sending, for what is it worth. Always double check, or triple check.

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#333

Post by xyzzy123 »

thenthenthen wrote: post #269
xyzzy123 wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it depends on the authoritarian government, but a sufficiently powerful one will get the app taken down or get the bluetooth features it relies on disabled (like for airdrop in China) :/ I would say that the underlying issue is that people do not really "own" their devices and the corporations that do are vulnerable to (or complicit in) state coercion. You cannot truly have freedom on a non-free device, you c…

Airdrop works fine in China, actually, if you leave it open you will be harassed by unwanted drops in public transport. E-sims are not allowed.

Yeah the change they made was to auto shut off airdrop after 10 mins. It's just that it happened to roll out in China around the same time that many apps were banned and protesters were reported as using airdrop to pass messages.

But I mostly agree - they rolled it out worldwide later on because once you reason it through, disabling it when it's not actively used turns out to be the better default.

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#334

Post by entriesfull »

Boggles my mind how we all have cellphones capable of forming a massive (global?) wireless mesh network that can't be shutoff/censored (without jamming). Get rid of ISPs.

Get rid of all these garbage social media (government honeypots) platforms that leak all your data every other weak.

Use Zero-knowledge proofs for authentication into distributed web apps.

Use BitTorrent file system to distribute data to prevent a single point of failure where all your data is leaked.

I could go on and on.

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#335

Post by torpid »

Dr4kn wrote: post #109
jacobgkau wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Works best in areas with patchy or no internet, or under censorship. The biggest problem I immediately foresee is that this sounds backwards. It doesn't work best in areas with patchy or no internet, it works best in areas with lots of participating devices. It's most needed in areas with patchy or no internet, but those areas are likely to be the opposite of the areas with lots of participating devices.

If your country shuts off Internet access for demonstrations this would work great.

If your country shuts off internet access they are probably going to jam bluetooth and wifi at any large demonstration, too.

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#336

Post by rtkwe »

_lvbh wrote: post #323
rtkwe wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only pseudonymous so far as you never accidentally link yourself to a wallet then everyone can know your entire transfer/spending history. It gets people all the time just look at the investigations into various alt coin rug pulls or other fraud. Irreversible is also not a good thing just ask anyone who had their NFTs stolen during that craze. If someone hacks my bank account or skims my card and transfers the money…

> Only pseudonymous so far as you never accidentally link yourself to a wallet then everyone can know your entire transfer/spending history See Monero

That's not enough to get people to actually use Monero though given it's got 1/10th the transaction volume of BTC and that's just counting the directly on chain transactions for BTC not those happening on the lightning network. Being off most of the exchanges also makes it difficult for most people to consider using since it's disconnected from the normal market precisely because it's impossible to do KYC to the satisfaction of regulators.

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#338

Post by WantonQuantum »

kosolam wrote: post #301
glitchc wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More familiar than you can imagine. The fact that you think smart contracts are what are needed to solve a decentralized communications problem suggests that you've learnt a new hammer and everything now looks like a nail to you.

Please check the parent comment which I replied to, this is a solution to “how to implement a robust micropayment system” in this context, not how to solve a “decentralized communications problem”.

Well, there's the "Given the intended use-case, that would not work." part which very much means the payment system is in the context of the intended use case.

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#339

Post by dylan604 »

repeekad wrote: post #330
dylan604 wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For a privacy focused application, these attributes make crypto a better choice than USD and the traditional banking system. So is cash. What we really need are ways of scanning a piece of fiat currency that instantly transfers that money to an account while then disabling the physical copy from the registry as valid. That's how silly I see crypto for anything other than illicit transactions

USPS will happily exchange your cash for a money order without an ID as long as it’s under a certain amount, if you’re willing to take the risk you can mail the money order and transfer reasonably sized checks fully anonymously, there are good reasons large transfers of cash probably shouldn’t be anonymous

If you’re really paranoid, you can mail cash directly if you’re willing that risk. I’m guessing the number of grandparents sending $5 for birthdays is getting smaller, but I’ve seen first hand the number of people willing to send cash to avoid having checks/credit card charges for specific places. There is no more anonymous method of payment than cash regardless of what cryptoBros tell you. This isn’t X-files where wanting to believe is enough
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