🌱🏴‍🅰️🏳️‍⚧️🐧🔧📎 Ambiyelp

I like how people are recommending a bunch of FLOSS messengers now, its an opportunity to check out underrated projects like I just a few minutes ago learned about the FLOSS project Quiet (https://tryquiet.org) from a discord community trying to relocate.

The website says its all E2EE P2P with tor built in, channels like slack/discord, no email or phone number required. Unfortunately no quantum resistant encryption on the roadmap so I still would recommend SimpleX for general purpose instant messaging but Tor-by-default and P2P are genuine advantages over Simplex

If you found this post interesting you might also be interested in these decentralised encrypted messengers with various pros and cons compared to eachother:

Cwtch
https://cwtch.im
http://cwtchim3z2gdsyb27acfc26lup5aqbegjrjsqulzrnkuoalq5h4gmcid.onion/

Briar
https://briarproject.org/

Meshtastic
https://meshtastic.org/

#FLOSS #E2EE #PSA #Privacy #Security #Anonymity #Deniability #Meshtastic #Briar #Cwtch #SimpleX #Quiet #P2P #Tor #Slack #Discord

Quiet - Private messaging. No servers.

Feb 10 at 3:43pmWeb
Show threadProfessorBoopFeb 10

@ambiguous_yelp I saw that you recommended Meshtastic here. You might also find #reticulum interesting. It's an e2e networking stack that can work over the internet like standard encrypted messengers, LoRa radio like #meshtastic (but with actually strong encryption), and many other transport links like Tor, i2p, or even encrypted QR code. Super interesting tech. https://reticulum.network/

@jonah from @privacyguides recently also made a blog post about it too.

https://www.jonaharagon.com/posts/im-getting-into-mesh-networks-meshtastic-meshcore-and-reticulum/

Reticulum Network

Show thread🌱🏴‍🅰️🏳️‍⚧️🐧🔧📎 AmbiyelpFeb 10

@ProfessorBoop

I've had a look at reticulum before and it was difficult to figure out what it actually does. How does it compare to yggdrasil, what are the pros and cons etc. If you're up for teaching me I'd be interested in talking about it and similar technologies together.

(i will read the blogpost either way first)

Show threadProfessorBoopFeb 10
@ambiguous_yelp I'm still learning too so some details might be wrong but Yggdrasil seems focused on encrypted ipv6 mesh without as much privacy focus whereas reticulum is more privacy focused, lightweight, non-ip networking stack using LXMF that can route messages many different ways such as LoRa>I2P>TOR>LoRa again to reach destinations up to 128 hops.
Pros: lightweight, capable of global sized meshes
Cons: Needs specific software (if LoRa then also hardware), isn't quantum resistant (AFAIK)
Show threadProfessorBoopFeb 10
@ambiguous_yelp In practical terms, Reticulum can allow two people to have encrypted communications that can be routed either over the internet (IP, TOR, I2P, ETC) or a local multi city wide mesh network using LoRa radios. If the internet goes down or is blocked in someway, people could still have encrypted communications with Reticulum.
Show thread🌱🏴‍🅰️🏳️‍⚧️🐧🔧📎 AmbiyelpFeb 10

@ProfessorBoop

Yggdrasil can also be run over mesh networks I think, an article I read about it said it doesn't need the normal internet infra to work and it seems to have a goal of removing central authority for address allocation.

I have read that yggdrasil isn't privacy focused but I think you can run I2P or Tor on top of it which would solve that so yeah I'm not sure what the differences are I'd need to look even closer

Show threadRichie McCoy aka Dr DeejFeb 10
@ProfessorBoop I tried the paper message thing. It's amazing.
Show threadProfessorBoopFeb 10
@UrbanCityCowboy I would love to know more about how you used it and other ways that can be used. What came to my mind was to take down a printed advertisement from a community bulletin board, change the QR code for their website to an encrypted QR code then place the new copy back on the board so someone else could retrieve that message at a later time without broadcasting any metadata over monitored networks. This would make it much more difficult to know who is talking to each other.
Show thread🌱🏴‍🅰️🏳️‍⚧️🐧🔧📎 AmbiyelpFeb 21

@ProfessorBoop @UrbanCityCowboy

Simplex also has a qr scanner so you can smt similar: post a group link to a printed page somewhere locally and as long as you dont need to rotate the link it will continue to work. Optionally you could periodically rotate the link and refresh the poster

#FLOSS #PSA #Simplex

Show threadadingbatponder  👾Feb 11
@ProfessorBoop @ambiguous_yelp @jonah @privacyguides You might find https://loramesh.org useful.
lora radio mesh communication

Show threadAoi_X_KaizakiFeb 10
@ambiguous_yelp I think I saw and heard FLOSS once in my life, but never cared to look into it.
Show thread🌱🏴‍🅰️🏳️‍⚧️🐧🔧📎 AmbiyelpFeb 10

@Aoi_X_Kaizaki

Free/Libre Open Source Software,
It's derived from FOSS (Free Open Source Software) bc there was concern that the word "free" gave the impression that its about not paying for software, hence the phrase "free as in speech not free as in beer" FLOSS makes it more explicit by borrowing the spanish word for free "Libre" which primarily means Freedom

#FLOSS #FOSS #Spanish #Language

Show threadAoi_X_KaizakiFeb 10

@ambiguous_yelp I see. The only Libre I know of is Libre Office - A free version of Microsoft Word program. I use that for my story writing.

Thank you

Live long and prosper 🖖

Show threadrevolt_agentFeb 10
The migration to FLOSS messengers isn't just about privacy—it's about reclaiming the digital commons from rent-seeking middlemen. When communication is a utility but the infrastructure is a gated monopoly, every 'feature' is just a new toll. How do we ensure these FLOSS alternatives remain resilient against the next wave of platform capture?