7 ms·

Is this just a loss-leader for their backup/storage service? I am a big fan of not being the product, but how does this make money?

andyburke 11y ago
Not to mention: if everything is encrypted using your password as a key, how do your friends see your posts? Are they encrypted for each friend with that friend's public key?
- darkstar999 11y ago
  > Are they encrypted for each friend with that friend's public key? That sounds about right. However this is a closed-source project, so I don't see why it would be picked up by privacy enthusiasts.
  - ghayes 11y ago
    Aside of the closed-source aspect, that is a great way to run a secure peer-to-peer messaging platform / social network. I believe this is how iMessage also encrypts communication.
  - daviddahl 11y ago
    No, it is fully open source from day one: https://github.com/Crypton/statusapp https://github.com/Crypton/statusapp
    - falien 11y ago
      This seems buried. Is there a reason it's not mentioned or linked on the kloak page? I actually went looking for the code and couldn't find that repository.
      - daviddahl 11y ago
        The link to the source code is in the about screen in the app. Hardly buried. I will have it added to the site, I was unaware of this.
        falien 11y ago
        Thanks. I figured it was likely in the app, but for an experiment like this, that appeals to many of the ideals of an open source philosophy, I'm less likely to bother installing it if I'm unaware that it's an open source project. Obviously the appeal ultimately needs to be greater than just being open source, but that initial bump can't hurt the outcome of the experiment.
        deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
- nine_k 11y ago
  Doesn't GPG work in a similar way?
- dnix 11y ago
  They could be encrypted with a random symmetric key that is then itself asymmetrically encrypted individually for everyone in your network and provided to them through some means. This is also how the OpenPGP works.
  - daviddahl 11y ago
    You share the (wrapped) post key with all contacts when you add them as contacts
jcwilde 11y ago
I would really love an answer to these questions.
- daviddahl 11y ago
  Earlier in the thread I mentioned that Kloak came about as a UX experiment in private social networking. We are building on these concepts in another project that is underway now.
shuzchen 11y ago
(disclaimer: i used to work at spideroak, but not on the crypton project) I would chalk this up to R&D. I don't think they'll make any money off of Kloak but they do want to bring crypton (the framework on which Kloak is built: https://crypton.io/ https://crypton.io/) into maturity. Another project of note associated with crypton would be the password manager Encryptr (https://spideroak.com/solutions/encryptr https://spideroak.com/solutions/encryptr). I'm not sure they want to replace their backup/storage service with crypton (although their backup service could use more collaborative features, so R&D into crypton could improve that), but they probably are looking into building other privacy focused products on top of which a better/mature/battle-tested crypton would be necessary.

andyburke 11y ago

Not to mention: if everything is encrypted using your password as a key, how do your friends see your posts? Are they encrypted for each friend with that friend's public key?

darkstar999 11y ago
> Are they encrypted for each friend with that friend's public key? That sounds about right. However this is a closed-source project, so I don't see why it would be picked up by privacy enthusiasts.
- ghayes 11y ago
  Aside of the closed-source aspect, that is a great way to run a secure peer-to-peer messaging platform / social network. I believe this is how iMessage also encrypts communication.
- daviddahl 11y ago
  No, it is fully open source from day one: https://github.com/Crypton/statusapp https://github.com/Crypton/statusapp
  - falien 11y ago
    This seems buried. Is there a reason it's not mentioned or linked on the kloak page? I actually went looking for the code and couldn't find that repository.
    - daviddahl 11y ago
      The link to the source code is in the about screen in the app. Hardly buried. I will have it added to the site, I was unaware of this.
      - falien 11y ago
        Thanks. I figured it was likely in the app, but for an experiment like this, that appeals to many of the ideals of an open source philosophy, I'm less likely to bother installing it if I'm unaware that it's an open source project. Obviously the appeal ultimately needs to be greater than just being open source, but that initial bump can't hurt the outcome of the experiment.
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
nine_k 11y ago
Doesn't GPG work in a similar way?
dnix 11y ago
They could be encrypted with a random symmetric key that is then itself asymmetrically encrypted individually for everyone in your network and provided to them through some means. This is also how the OpenPGP works.
- daviddahl 11y ago
  You share the (wrapped) post key with all contacts when you add them as contacts

jcwilde 11y ago

I would really love an answer to these questions.

daviddahl 11y ago
Earlier in the thread I mentioned that Kloak came about as a UX experiment in private social networking. We are building on these concepts in another project that is underway now.

shuzchen 11y ago

(disclaimer: i used to work at spideroak, but not on the crypton project) I would chalk this up to R&D. I don't think they'll make any money off of Kloak but they do want to bring crypton (the framework on which Kloak is built: https://crypton.io/ https://crypton.io/) into maturity. Another project of note associated with crypton would be the password manager Encryptr (https://spideroak.com/solutions/encryptr https://spideroak.com/solutions/encryptr). I'm not sure they want to replace their backup/storage service with crypton (although their backup service could use more collaborative features, so R&D into crypton could improve that), but they probably are looking into building other privacy focused products on top of which a better/mature/battle-tested crypton would be necessary.