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Jesus Christ, that must be fourth or fifth "whitepaper" I see from the cryptocurrency community. Here's what a proper whitepapers should look like: https://sig

by maqp 6y ago

Jesus Christ, that must be fourth or fifth "whitepaper" I see from the cryptocurrency community. Here's what a proper whitepapers should look like: https://signal.org/docs/specifications/x3dh/x3dh.pdf https://signal.org/docs/specifications/x3dh/x3dh.pdf https://signal.org/docs/specifications/doubleratchet/doubleratchet.pdf https://signal.org/docs/specifications/doubleratchet/doubler... Status' whitepaper looks like marketing material for investors, not a technical description for infosec professionals. I find the content almost repulsive.

michaelsbradley 6y ago
https://specs.vac.dev/specs/waku/waku.html https://specs.vac.dev/specs/waku/waku.html Waku is in R&D by Status.
Legogris 6y ago
> Status' whitepaper looks like marketing material for investors TBF, that is the more commonly understood meaning of "white paper". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_paper#In_business-to-business_marketing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_paper#In_business-to-bus...
- maqp 6y ago
  Oh, TIL. I'm still unable to find the information from the white paper that was promised to be there.
  - michaelsbradley 6y ago
    Status core contributor here. Which information in particular are you looking for? In answer to your questions above: What [do] the currency and/or blockchain brings to the table? Decentralized messaging tech aims at making 1-1 and group messaging more secure. It is not inherently tied to blockchain / cryptocurrency, though for an economically incentivized network of mailserver nodes it could make sense to realize the incentivization mechanisms via cryptocurrency transfers. See: https://vac.dev/vac-overview https://vac.dev/vac-overview The Waku protocol, currently used by the Status mobile and desktops apps, is being developed by the Vac team, which is part of Status. The Status client includes an Ethereum wallet because many people interested in the messaging technology are also interested in cryptocurrency. Is it a paid app? No, it is free to download and free to use, and all the software developed by Status is open source: https://github.com/status-im/ https://github.com/status-im/ Does it store ciphertexts indenfinitely to the blockchain? Or public keys? Sending and receiving messages does not involve transactions on the blockchain; messages are not stored on the blockchain. You may be interested to read more in the technical FAQ: https://status.im/technical/FAQs.html https://status.im/technical/FAQs.html
    - maqp 6y ago
      Key exchange algorithm, symmetric cipher and mode of operation, is it forward secret, future secret, how are keys generated (CSPRNG algorithm), how are the ciphers tested (test vectors, links to test vector sources and to unittests doing test vectors), rationale for primitive choices. How are key changes handled, what kind of warning is displayed when public key changes, fingerprint encoding, cryptographic protocol descriptions, threat model (the more transparent the better), if blockchain is used to provide e.g. key authenticity. "The Status client includes an Ethereum wallet because many people interested in the messaging technology are also interested in cryptocurrency." So it's an encrypted messenger with a wallet, OK. "Decentralized messaging tech aims at making 1-1 and group messaging more secure." So you should discuss the monetary incentives for people to host a decentralized server, and also discuss how malicious state entities running servers is not economically viable, if that's the case, or tell that it's not the case. You should also discuss how it makes it more secure. So tl;dr create an article for cryptographers/infosec folks that need to understand how the security works (and please remember most people in those circles are really allergic to marketing language and buzzwords unless it's a technical property).
      - michaelsbradley 6y ago
        I think most of the information you're looking for is documented in the specs: https://github.com/status-im/specs/tree/master/docs https://github.com/status-im/specs/tree/master/docs https://github.com/vacp2p/specs/tree/master/specs https://github.com/vacp2p/specs/tree/master/specs Monetary incentivization for running a mailserver is being researched and (afaik) is not yet implemented or specified. There is a relevant discussion forum: https://forum.vac.dev/ https://forum.vac.dev/ Activity there is currently light because most core contributors' time, at present, is being spent on other pressing tasks. See also: https://discuss.status.im/ https://discuss.status.im/

by maqp 6y ago

michaelsbradley 6y ago

https://specs.vac.dev/specs/waku/waku.html https://specs.vac.dev/specs/waku/waku.html Waku is in R&D by Status.

Legogris 6y ago

> Status' whitepaper looks like marketing material for investors TBF, that is the more commonly understood meaning of "white paper". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_paper#In_business-to-business_marketing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_paper#In_business-to-bus...

maqp 6y ago
Oh, TIL. I'm still unable to find the information from the white paper that was promised to be there.
- michaelsbradley 6y ago
  Status core contributor here. Which information in particular are you looking for? In answer to your questions above: What [do] the currency and/or blockchain brings to the table? Decentralized messaging tech aims at making 1-1 and group messaging more secure. It is not inherently tied to blockchain / cryptocurrency, though for an economically incentivized network of mailserver nodes it could make sense to realize the incentivization mechanisms via cryptocurrency transfers. See: https://vac.dev/vac-overview https://vac.dev/vac-overview The Waku protocol, currently used by the Status mobile and desktops apps, is being developed by the Vac team, which is part of Status. The Status client includes an Ethereum wallet because many people interested in the messaging technology are also interested in cryptocurrency. Is it a paid app? No, it is free to download and free to use, and all the software developed by Status is open source: https://github.com/status-im/ https://github.com/status-im/ Does it store ciphertexts indenfinitely to the blockchain? Or public keys? Sending and receiving messages does not involve transactions on the blockchain; messages are not stored on the blockchain. You may be interested to read more in the technical FAQ: https://status.im/technical/FAQs.html https://status.im/technical/FAQs.html
  - maqp 6y ago
    Key exchange algorithm, symmetric cipher and mode of operation, is it forward secret, future secret, how are keys generated (CSPRNG algorithm), how are the ciphers tested (test vectors, links to test vector sources and to unittests doing test vectors), rationale for primitive choices. How are key changes handled, what kind of warning is displayed when public key changes, fingerprint encoding, cryptographic protocol descriptions, threat model (the more transparent the better), if blockchain is used to provide e.g. key authenticity. "The Status client includes an Ethereum wallet because many people interested in the messaging technology are also interested in cryptocurrency." So it's an encrypted messenger with a wallet, OK. "Decentralized messaging tech aims at making 1-1 and group messaging more secure." So you should discuss the monetary incentives for people to host a decentralized server, and also discuss how malicious state entities running servers is not economically viable, if that's the case, or tell that it's not the case. You should also discuss how it makes it more secure. So tl;dr create an article for cryptographers/infosec folks that need to understand how the security works (and please remember most people in those circles are really allergic to marketing language and buzzwords unless it's a technical property).
    - michaelsbradley 6y ago
      I think most of the information you're looking for is documented in the specs: https://github.com/status-im/specs/tree/master/docs https://github.com/status-im/specs/tree/master/docs https://github.com/vacp2p/specs/tree/master/specs https://github.com/vacp2p/specs/tree/master/specs Monetary incentivization for running a mailserver is being researched and (afaik) is not yet implemented or specified. There is a relevant discussion forum: https://forum.vac.dev/ https://forum.vac.dev/ Activity there is currently light because most core contributors' time, at present, is being spent on other pressing tasks. See also: https://discuss.status.im/ https://discuss.status.im/