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Hello HN, creator here. I've been building ente to scratch my own itch, and I'm close to launching a beta program with mobile and web clients. Posting this he

Hello HN, creator here. I've been building ente to scratch my own itch, and I'm close to launching a beta program with mobile and web clients. Posting this here hoping to get some feedback and perhaps even my first few users. :)

vishnumohandas 6y ago
Addressing some FAQs: Q. How is the data encrypted? When you sign up, the client generates a 256-bit key, which is stored at the server after being encrypted with your passphrase which ente does not have access to. The client encrypts every file you upload using AESCrypt[1] with a randomly generated password. This password is stored at the server after being encrypted with your key. So as long as you can verify your email address and remember your passphrase, you can download and decrypt your key and files on any device. When you share files with other users, public-key cryptography is used to share these passwords. When you share files publicly, the client attaches this password to the URL as a fragment. Q. How is data durability ensured? Your data is replicated across two different object storage providers across two continents. I’m optimizing for durability rather than cost. Two is one and one is none. Q. What is the pricing? $5/100GB/month tentatively. Q. What happens if your company dies? The project won't die. I'll open source the server, provide a docker image that can be self hosted, and a script to migrate data to your S3 buckets. [1]: https://www.aescrypt.com/aes_file_format.html https://www.aescrypt.com/aes_file_format.html
brudgers 6y ago
Are you planning to make money with it? If so, how?
- vishnumohandas 6y ago
  The first 1GB of storage is free. After that I’ll be charging users $5/100GB/month.
  - brudgers 6y ago
    So $60/year. About the retail price of a 2TB external hard disk. Or a 256GB SD card. Or half a dozen 128GB thumb drives. That's the base case you're up against. It's what all photo hosting sites are up against. But in particular, none of those has a privacy issue. And for anyone who has been around, each is likely to be more reliable than a web based photo solution if history is a guide because the first order economics don't work in the long term. But history also indicates that anyplace that can store photos online is likely to be used for illegal images such as child pornography and copyright violations. To put it another way, technology is not the critical issue. Don't misunderstand me, it's cool that you built a system. And there are problems with Google photos. The reason there appears to be an opportunity is because the hard problems are really hard and non-obvious. Good luck.
    - vishnumohandas 6y ago
      > anyplace that can store photos online is likely to be used for illegal images This is a valid point, and I'll have to figure out a way to craft my T&C such that I'm not held accountable for the decrypted data. As for the rest, as someone who is okay with paying for convenience and bells and whistles, while I understand your view point, it's hard for me to relate to it. I can only hope for there to be more like me. But I'm grateful to you for taking the time out to share your feedback. Thank you.
      - brudgers 6y ago
        The hosting issue is a matter of criminal law. Terms and conditions don’t matter in that space. They can’t transfer responsibility for breaking the law. So the unit economics have to cover the costs of dealing with the legal liability. And just for giggles, if you’re making money from hosting illegal content, law enforcement is more likely to pay attention and act with greater force. There’s no low hanging fruit at any kind of scale. If 0.01% of people are bad actors, it’s even money there’s one in the first 5000 accounts - but only if the account holders are randomly distributed among all people. But bad actors are motivated and the cost setting up a free account is asymmetric to the whackamole effort thwarting them. Again good luck.
- DinakarS 6y ago
  He has shared his pricing under this same thread you're replying to! Here it is, again, "$5/100GB/month tentatively."

vishnumohandas 6y ago

Addressing some FAQs: Q. How is the data encrypted? When you sign up, the client generates a 256-bit key, which is stored at the server after being encrypted with your passphrase which ente does not have access to. The client encrypts every file you upload using AESCrypt[1] with a randomly generated password. This password is stored at the server after being encrypted with your key. So as long as you can verify your email address and remember your passphrase, you can download and decrypt your key and files on any device. When you share files with other users, public-key cryptography is used to share these passwords. When you share files publicly, the client attaches this password to the URL as a fragment. Q. How is data durability ensured? Your data is replicated across two different object storage providers across two continents. I’m optimizing for durability rather than cost. Two is one and one is none. Q. What is the pricing? $5/100GB/month tentatively. Q. What happens if your company dies? The project won't die. I'll open source the server, provide a docker image that can be self hosted, and a script to migrate data to your S3 buckets. [1]: https://www.aescrypt.com/aes_file_format.html https://www.aescrypt.com/aes_file_format.html

brudgers 6y ago

Are you planning to make money with it? If so, how?

vishnumohandas 6y ago
The first 1GB of storage is free. After that I’ll be charging users $5/100GB/month.
- brudgers 6y ago
  So $60/year. About the retail price of a 2TB external hard disk. Or a 256GB SD card. Or half a dozen 128GB thumb drives. That's the base case you're up against. It's what all photo hosting sites are up against. But in particular, none of those has a privacy issue. And for anyone who has been around, each is likely to be more reliable than a web based photo solution if history is a guide because the first order economics don't work in the long term. But history also indicates that anyplace that can store photos online is likely to be used for illegal images such as child pornography and copyright violations. To put it another way, technology is not the critical issue. Don't misunderstand me, it's cool that you built a system. And there are problems with Google photos. The reason there appears to be an opportunity is because the hard problems are really hard and non-obvious. Good luck.
  - vishnumohandas 6y ago
    > anyplace that can store photos online is likely to be used for illegal images This is a valid point, and I'll have to figure out a way to craft my T&C such that I'm not held accountable for the decrypted data. As for the rest, as someone who is okay with paying for convenience and bells and whistles, while I understand your view point, it's hard for me to relate to it. I can only hope for there to be more like me. But I'm grateful to you for taking the time out to share your feedback. Thank you.
    - brudgers 6y ago
      The hosting issue is a matter of criminal law. Terms and conditions don’t matter in that space. They can’t transfer responsibility for breaking the law. So the unit economics have to cover the costs of dealing with the legal liability. And just for giggles, if you’re making money from hosting illegal content, law enforcement is more likely to pay attention and act with greater force. There’s no low hanging fruit at any kind of scale. If 0.01% of people are bad actors, it’s even money there’s one in the first 5000 accounts - but only if the account holders are randomly distributed among all people. But bad actors are motivated and the cost setting up a free account is asymmetric to the whackamole effort thwarting them. Again good luck.
DinakarS 6y ago
He has shared his pricing under this same thread you're replying to! Here it is, again, "$5/100GB/month tentatively."