yawnbox

because direct messages on Mastodon are clear-text, all admins are subject to warrants from their local/regional law enforcement agencies

same with usage metadata like IP addresses and time stamps

i disabled IP logging in UFW and nginx, but Mastodon itself still logs this to be able to present it to the user for authentication transparency

making mastodon more resistant to targeted surveillance would be valuable to protect users

#mastoAdmin #mastodonAdmin

Nov 16, 2022 at 11:48pmWeb
Show threadSimon Fondrie-TeitlerNov 16, 2022
@yawnbox Does it break things if you put a proxy in front of it that doesn't pass X-Forwarded-For?
Show threadyawnboxNov 16, 2022
@varlogsimon i like the idea of doing manual interventions like that. i'm sure it can be done. but what i think is important is Mastdon itself making structural changes, ideally opt-out changes, that default to protecting user and admin privacy
Show threadSimon Fondrie-TeitlerNov 16, 2022
@yawnbox I don't disagree! Ideally one could turn this off with a setting in the admin area. Was just curious if you knew whether that is a stopgap measure.
Show threadyawnboxNov 17, 2022
@varlogsimon I'm not experienced with using nginx as a proxy but i know it is commonly used as such. i wonder if a simple reconfig there would accomplish this same effect (making the login IP 127.0.0.1 instead of the actual IP). might be a simple upstream change?
Show threadSimon Fondrie-TeitlerNov 17, 2022

@yawnbox Looks like there's already a feature to limit how long it's kept: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/18757

there's an open issue: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/6474

and someone wrote a guide: https://libreops.cc/2022/05/09/mastodon/

ip_cleanup_scheduler: Make IP and session retention configurable by kescherCode · Pull Request #18757 · mastodon/mastodon

In #6474, there are mentions of IP addresses being stored for too long (1 year). While this pull request doesn't allow disabling the storage of IP addresses, it would allow instance admins to limit...

GitHub
Show threadyawnboxNov 17, 2022
@varlogsimon thanks!! i added my feedback
Show threadMichael Downey Nov 17, 2022

@yawnbox Use an instance with a #tor #onion interface?

https://docs.joinmastodon.org/admin/optional/tor/

Onion services - Mastodon documentation

Serving Mastodon through Tor onion services.

Show threadyawnboxNov 17, 2022
@downey yes that is an option. unfortunately this is not an on-by-default option and therefore will not best-protect most users
Show threadkeschi   ΘMay 15, 2023

@yawnbox small hint: I made a patch to Mastodon that allows more easily and more often purging IP metadata and it has been merged into vanilla (this was before I stopped contributing to vanilla).

That being said, simply don't pass the X-Forwarded-For header in your NGINX config, and it will no longer store anything useful at all since everything will now be 127.0.0.1 (however, IP rate limits will no longer apply at all as a result)

Show threadch0ccyra1n is leaving fedi soonMay 15, 2023
@yawnbox
I've gotta set up a warrant canary
Show threadyawnboxMay 15, 2023
@ch0ccyra1n the one we made for @EmeraldOnion is US-centric but the framework is useable, if it helps: emeraldonion.org/transparency
Show threadTor ChristianMay 15, 2023
I don't know, but maybe there are other fediverse applications which are more resistant than Mastodon? The fediverse is diverse. https://jointhefediverse.net/
Join the fediverse!

Learn about the fediverse and find your community.

Show threadWladimir PalantMay 15, 2023
@yawnbox My nginx setup has an IP address mapping that clears out the last byte of IPv4 addresses and the last 12 bytes of IPv6 addresses. The “anonymized” address is what is being logged, and it is also being passed to any software running on the server. It’s still good enough for geo-location, but otherwise it’s unproblematic and also GDPR-compliant.
Show threadCybermenace a.D.May 16, 2023
@yawnbox @ma better male sure that everyone understands direct messages are not meant to be private. For me this is an GUI / UX issue.
Better that making the server a tiny bit more private.
Show threadDemonicaMay 30, 2023
@yawnbox idk why you would share that sensitive info on mastodon dm when matrix exists