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Do we know why there has been no update to IRC protocol to ensure end to end encryption? I understand that doing e2e for public chats is extremely complex - so
by varispeed 5y ago
Do we know why there has been no update to IRC protocol to ensure end to end encryption?
I understand that doing e2e for public chats is extremely complex - so these could remain public, but private messages could easily be encrypted.
- andrewzah 5y agoIt's a huge pain in Matrix with even a small amount of users in a chat. At least for me, I've never used IRC where I cared about e2e. There are other services for that, including just encrypting with the other party's public pgp key.
- kdragon 5y agoI think group e2ee is overblown and self-defeating in principle. Good luck auditing a ratcheting e2ee algo. Plus it breaks often, and group encryption is defeated by any user in the chat. Direct e2ee is far simpler and can be expanded to small groups without the need for complex ratcheting trees. Anything larger and you may as well fall-back to client-server with e2e communications.
- progval 5y agoThere is OTR: https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/ https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/ but as far as I know there is only one implementation, and it's underdocumented. The protocol itself seems well specified, but it doesn't use "standard" primitives https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/Protocol-v3-4.1.1.html https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/Protocol-v3-4.1.1.html And UIs are usually not great (you have to check a shared secret via a trusted channel). There are also talks of an OTRv4, shared by XMPP and IRC: https://github.com/ircv3/ircv3-ideas/issues/67 https://github.com/ircv3/ircv3-ideas/issues/67 but the protocol is even more complex, I even have a hard time following the introductory sections of its specification.