3 ms·

Assign everyone an IP V6, there's plenty. Then treat that as our internet phone number. Define a chat protocol that contains the very basics and everyone has t

Assign everyone an IP V6, there's plenty. Then treat that as our internet phone number. Define a chat protocol that contains the very basics and everyone has to support that. Want to send a chat, you have their IP V6. Exchange using QR code. No server necessary for the basics. If a text fails sending device can keep trying or just give up. This takes chat away from any single service.

the_french 6y ago
This approach ignores all the aspects that made whatsapp / chat services popular in the first place. A short list: - Contact Discovery - Group chats - History / Log - Shared message order - Communication beyond text (emojis / reactions / inline images) - Ability to receive messages while offline - No need for technical skills These aren't trivial features, they are prerequisites for any replacement, decentralized or otherwise. Just because we as developers like / tolerate things like IRC doesn't mean the rest of the world will accept it.
- ozborn 6y ago
  Everything you list could be supported at the client level with a decentralized IP6 level protocol without a need for a centralized server middleman.
  - etherealG 6y ago
    Sounds great! Let me know when you’ve built it so I can try it out :)
MayeulC 6y ago
Unfortunately, IPv6 addresses have to be assigned by someone, and they typically change when moving around/changing provider. And you have to go trough the firewall... I prefer something you can generate yourself, like encryption keys. That's the approach taken by yggdrasil (and cjdns before): generate an encryption key, map the public part to an IP address (there's almost enough bits in v6). Plus, it can easily be end-to-end encrypted. Another plus is that you can generate as many as desired. As for the protocol, Matrix is experimenting a bit with going p2p. https://yggdrasil-network.github.io/ https://yggdrasil-network.github.io/
samoa42 6y ago
username checks out

the_french 6y ago

This approach ignores all the aspects that made whatsapp / chat services popular in the first place. A short list: - Contact Discovery - Group chats - History / Log - Shared message order - Communication beyond text (emojis / reactions / inline images) - Ability to receive messages while offline - No need for technical skills These aren't trivial features, they are prerequisites for any replacement, decentralized or otherwise. Just because we as developers like / tolerate things like IRC doesn't mean the rest of the world will accept it.

ozborn 6y ago
Everything you list could be supported at the client level with a decentralized IP6 level protocol without a need for a centralized server middleman.
- etherealG 6y ago
  Sounds great! Let me know when you’ve built it so I can try it out :)

MayeulC 6y ago

Unfortunately, IPv6 addresses have to be assigned by someone, and they typically change when moving around/changing provider. And you have to go trough the firewall... I prefer something you can generate yourself, like encryption keys. That's the approach taken by yggdrasil (and cjdns before): generate an encryption key, map the public part to an IP address (there's almost enough bits in v6). Plus, it can easily be end-to-end encrypted. Another plus is that you can generate as many as desired. As for the protocol, Matrix is experimenting a bit with going p2p. https://yggdrasil-network.github.io/ https://yggdrasil-network.github.io/

samoa42 6y ago

username checks out