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Privacy
Designing for public communication requires less focus on privacy than social applications designed for close social circles. However, privacy is still important to consider on several counts: protecting user metadata, respecting private account settings, and supporting private direct messaging.
Direct messaging
Many decentralized social applications use e2e encryption to preserve the privacy of direct messages.
- Matrix - End-to-end encryption guide for Matrix clients
- ActivityPub - Mastodon is adding e2e encryption to ActivityPub. Previously, messages were unencrypted on the server.
- Ssb - Ssb, as a p2p protocol, included e2e encryption for direct messages from the start, so that unencrypted messages would not be passed around the network.
Some more e2e messaging encryption options:
- Noise protocol, used by WhatsApp
- Messaging Layer Security (MLS)
Decentralized applications that focus on privacy
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Peergos - Peergos provides capability-based access control for files on top of IPFS. Files are kept private. All encryption happens on the client, which could be a native Peergos client or a browser. Data is always encrypted on the servers. Servers do not have access to metadata or sensitive information. Access is controlled through cryptographic capabilities. Access is hierarchical, and stored in an encrypted structure called cryptree.
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Zeronet - Zeronet is an example of a p2p network that was designed with a focus on privacy. It is a browser for a decentralized network built on BitTorrent and Bitcoin, and instead of having IP addresses, Zeronet site addresses are Bitcoin public keys. ZeroMe is a proof-of-concept Twitter-like social network on Zeronet. It has not received wide usage. Other sites on Zeronet include ZeroTalk (like Reddit), ZeroBlog (microblogging), and ZeroMail (encrypted mail).