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"when they accepted new owners/investors." IMHO we should be able to determine the amount of trust we can put on the app from the client alone. If FOSS client
by maqp 6y ago
"when they accepted new owners/investors."
IMHO we should be able to determine the amount of trust we can put on the app from the client alone. If FOSS client uses E2EE, no matter what the server starts doing when the service changes ownership will have an effect on it. Of course the new owner could e.g. start selling user metadata, but that's something you should kind of assume the service is doing anyway (just because they can), and if you can't take the risk, you should use something that prevents it by design (like Briar/Cwtch/Ricochet/TFC).
- foresto 6y agoI agree in principle, and I look forward to the day when all my requirements can be met without self-hosting or trusting another party with metadata. After all, most people don't have the means to self-host. Multiple projects (including Matrix) are working in that direction, but I'm not holding my breath; metadata exists at multiple layers, and is a hard problem to solve. Until that day, a public host with the right incentives and track record remains valuable, even if only to include people who don't have tech-savvy friends to host for them. Regardless of all that, given the choice between rewarding an organization with good behavior vs. one with bad behavior, I choose the former.
- maqp 6y agoWhat's the issue with self-hosting? It's not that expensive to run a netbook 24/7 with an Onion Service. I'm doing that for my FreedomBox with radicale etc. ATM. There's no overhead costs like static IP or hostname. I can agree with the point of "average user lacks the skills" so that's something that needs good tutorials. But then there's apps like Briar that just run on your phone, that bring the complexity down to these users.