3 ms·
Thought experiment: Could we make a text chat where all (encrypted) message data is public knowledge in a globally shared bitcoin-like ledger? There are ~3 bi
by londons_explore 3y ago
Thought experiment:
Could we make a text chat where all (encrypted) message data is public knowledge in a globally shared bitcoin-like ledger?
There are ~3 billion users on the worlds biggest messenger app, sending ~100 billion messages per day. Assume a message averages 15 words. State of the art compression achieves ~0.65 bytes per word [1]. Thats 1 TB of data per day, for all human conversation.
Imagine any phone can send out an encrypted message, and it gets added to the global ledger.
The data stream of all ledger entries could be broadcast to all phones worldwide (LTE networks support broadcast), and your phone just pick out the messages aimed at it.
End result: Even if every device in the network is evil, nobody can ever determine who you are communicating with.
[1]: http://www.mattmahoney.net/dc/text.html#1085 http://www.mattmahoney.net/dc/text.html#1085
- reustle 3y agoUntil an adversary uses LLM magic and a quantum computer to break the encryption and read everything.
- shrubble 3y agoBitMessage did it as a proof of concept years ago, but it was not IM-like, more like a slower email.
- simmerup 3y agoBut, how is that better
- londons_explore 3y agoNobody knows who you are sending messages to. Current e2e systems might hide the contents of your messages, but they still reveal who you are communicating with to intermediate servers. That info can be used to find and arrest your friends if you're a terrorist, protestor, activist, or just a bit gay in a country that doesn't allow it. No tor-like system can prevent this if an adversary can run a bunch of the nodes.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- dustyharddrive 3y agoIIUC Secure Scuttlebutt works a bit like this.