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Are there experts around who can point out the key differences, if any, with Tox https://tox.chat/ https://tox.chat/ ?

• Elv13 11y ago
  (I am one of the dev) The main difference is that Ring.cx is built on top of open standards and only add the minimal additional infrastructure (the decentralized DHT layer) to allow it to work without a server. It is SIP compliant and can be used as work phone or your average VoIP provider, but you lose some the the privacy and advantages provided by decentralization. For more info, I wrote this blog post a while back https://elv13.wordpress.com/2015/09/05/what-is-ring-and-how-it-works/ https://elv13.wordpress.com/2015/09/05/what-is-ring-and-how-...
  • cyphar 11y ago
    Tox isn't anonymous though. Not in the same way Tor is anonymous, at least. And Tox's "nat punching" isn't fully decentralised.
    • Elv13 11y ago
      Ring.cx is also not technically anonymous for mostly the same reasons. A decentralized hash table leave some metadata in the open, then when you call someone, there is a UDP stream between them. Ring wont give away your IP and details to the world, but it is vulnerable to many of the same metatdata vulnerabilities as Tor or Bitorrent. You can configure Ring to be "more anonymous" by adding some proxies/middleman-server and messing with the connection sequence, but it cannot really be used in the default configuration or it would not "just work". Adding proxies for voice stream also add audio latency. Edit: Our NAT punching is IETF compliant STUN/TURN/ICE/UPnP, so you can always just pick a third party you trust in the rare few cases you need one (we don't support IPv6 that well yet, so no luck there, it will come at some point).