8 ms·

Eppie is a decentralized email with full address and account ownership

10 points by valeryeppie 3y ago

jesprenj 3y ago
Is this just an ad for a non existing commercial service?
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  Yeahbut, a site translation in Russian is available! Trust us bro!
  - valeryeppie 3y ago
    Russian is commonly used in a few countries where email privacy is literally a life-saver. It is also our native. The team is originally from Belarus. We know these things by experience. With time we’re going to add more languages. The beauty of trustless network is that nobody has to trust anybody. The codebase is open on Github https://github.com/Eppie-io https://github.com/Eppie-io and we are conducting independent security audit at launch.
- valeryeppie 3y ago
  Well, yes it is. We started with an idea, built a prototype, and came to this startup community to find some guidance hopefully. We are planning an Open Beta in a few months.
rollcat 3y ago
Email is already decentralised. A domain costs a few bucks per year. You can point the MX records at any IP address you control. There's half a dozen decent mail systems you can self-host. Everything up to this point is trivial and things like IPFS only complicate this. The hard part is making sure your emails get thru to your recipients, and fighting off the spammers on your end. I'm very much interested in how they're going to tackle this.
- valeryeppie 3y ago
  There aren’t too many people capable of jumping through all the hoops, but yes, if you go as far as self-hosting your email, your data is under your control, not Google’s. The address though is still not yours. What do you mean by “Email is already decentralized”? Global email network is a Federation, and it’s a good thing. But as a user of email provider you are a client to a server in a centralized network. Eppie is “more decentralized” because it is a p2p network, there are no servers. As for fighting spammers, the problem is there, it is not our main priority, but in Eppie you can generate as many addresses as you want. The user controls whether to make an address public or share it only with trusted contacts. And Whitelist is also in our backlog.
  - rollcat 3y ago
    > What do you mean by “Email is already decentralized”? I can run my own email server in my basement, or on a VPS. > But as a user of email provider you are a client to a server in a centralized network. If I use my own email server, the network is only as centralised as the server itself; there's also nothing stopping me from hosting a second server on the other side of the planet, and using e.g. CockroachDB as the storage backend. > Eppie is “more decentralized” because it is a p2p network, there are no servers. What do I point my MX records at, then? > in Eppie you can generate as many addresses as you want. This strategy comes with its own shortcomings, and while it's a useful feature, it is not a be-all-end-all. There was a blog post which I can't find now, of some guy who had used it for something like a decade, detailing everything that went wrong with it: you need to keep track of which email you used where; people get confused which address to use to write you; once you decide to have a "primary" address, "for humans only", the scheme is more or less defeated as you can no longer afford to throw it away, etc. Don't get me wrong - it's very useful to have this, and I think it should be a standard offering from any and every provider. Just like GMail made GB+ of storage space the standard, addresses are in fact cheap. But that doesn't end spam. > And Whitelist is also in our backlog. I'm actually more interested in the complementary problem. How do you plan to address deliverability from your end? As I said, self-hosting an email server today is trivial, compared to the effort in ensuring your email doesn't get rejected by @gmail.com, @outlook.com, @yahoo.com, etc. Which is the core reason why email tends to be more centralised nowadays (even if the underlying protocol and infrastructure supports and encourages federation/decentralisation).
xrisk 3y ago
Look ma! They reinvented Freenet
- valeryeppie 3y ago
  It isn't new Freenet. It is a new email.
omega___ 3y ago
Decentralized? Email? What does the MX record point to?
- valeryeppie 3y ago
  Eppie is a next generation email, it is only partially compatible with the conventional technology.
valeryeppie 3y ago
MVP demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJbVIc--pHM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJbVIc--pHM ProtonMail integration demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkkGY5V0QLw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkkGY5V0QLw
- Spare_account 3y ago
  I don't understand what this is _for_? It is creating a second copy of all my email data on your cluster? For what benefit?
  - valeryeppie 3y ago
    You create your account in the decentralized Eppie network aka web3 email, where you can transfer your old mailboxes along with all your contacts, emails, attachments, etc., while using your old addresses to communicate. From this moment on, your account and data are unblockable, untrackable, uncensored.
    - 9cb14c1ec0 3y ago
      I think this statement might convey a false sense of privacy. New incoming and outgoing messages that go through your old addresses can still be tracked, blocked, etc. If I understand correctly, the p2p aspect is only at play when sending emails to others on the eppie network. Otherwise, they go through whatever external mailbox is linked to the account.
      - valeryeppie 3y ago
        That's right. Thank you! Phrasing is important. There are few different pieces of functionality we are talking about here: 1. Eppie is a client to a p2p network based on its own protocol for decentralized messaging between Eppie users. 2. Eppie can also work as a conventional IMAP/SMTP email client. Obviously, you need to connect your centralized email account. 3. While doing so, you can optionally choose to move your data from that server to Eppie. Whether that email provider actually removes it from its storage is not under our control. 4. You can also use conventional email addresses for decentralized messaging. For this to work both users need to be Eppie clients. 5. When you message some user@email.com and they are not using Eppie, your message is sent over a traditional email network and does land on provider’s server, in which case it won’t be private anymore.
lastitude 3y ago
The text input fields on the poll/form are wonky.
- valeryeppie 3y ago
  Thank you for your feedback.
jesprenj 3y ago
What are its features? I did not see that on the webpage. Does it for example offer perfect anonymity even to network attackers, on a similar level BitMessage [0] provides? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitmessage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitmessage
- valeryeppie 3y ago
  Looks like our approach to anonymity is similar. Eppie’s addressees are pseudo-anonymous. That is a user keeps their anonymity as long as they don’t use same address for different correspondents and don’t allow an address to be associated with other services in a Public Registry. At this stage of development, we are not planning to build our own anonymous network, but Eppie will allow users to utilize existing technologies, like Tor and I2P, or configure a proxy server to anonymize their Eppie traffic. Here are the main features: Creating an account in a decentralized network. Full support for classic email + Proton Mail. Decentralized messages. Migration of the old mailbox to web3. Built-in identity manager. Ability to use Ethereum addresses. We are also preparing a website update. You can read more on features here: https://explorer.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/0x8de918f0163b2021839a8d84954dd7e8e151326d/0x8de918f0163b2021839a8d84954dd7e8e151326d-46 https://explorer.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/0x8de918f0163b2021839...
  - jesprenj 3y ago
    Interesting! How does this <<feature Eppie can use conventional email as a name service: so you send a message to Gmail address, but it never lands on the server and goes straight to the decentralized network. feature work without a central name managing server?
    - valeryeppie 3y ago
      Yes, it does work without central name managing server. Sign up for early access to try it among the first.

10 points by valeryeppie 3y ago

jesprenj 3y ago

Is this just an ad for a non existing commercial service?

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
Yeahbut, a site translation in Russian is available! Trust us bro!
- valeryeppie 3y ago
  Russian is commonly used in a few countries where email privacy is literally a life-saver. It is also our native. The team is originally from Belarus. We know these things by experience. With time we’re going to add more languages. The beauty of trustless network is that nobody has to trust anybody. The codebase is open on Github https://github.com/Eppie-io https://github.com/Eppie-io and we are conducting independent security audit at launch.
valeryeppie 3y ago
Well, yes it is. We started with an idea, built a prototype, and came to this startup community to find some guidance hopefully. We are planning an Open Beta in a few months.

rollcat 3y ago

Email is already decentralised. A domain costs a few bucks per year. You can point the MX records at any IP address you control. There's half a dozen decent mail systems you can self-host. Everything up to this point is trivial and things like IPFS only complicate this. The hard part is making sure your emails get thru to your recipients, and fighting off the spammers on your end. I'm very much interested in how they're going to tackle this.

valeryeppie 3y ago
There aren’t too many people capable of jumping through all the hoops, but yes, if you go as far as self-hosting your email, your data is under your control, not Google’s. The address though is still not yours. What do you mean by “Email is already decentralized”? Global email network is a Federation, and it’s a good thing. But as a user of email provider you are a client to a server in a centralized network. Eppie is “more decentralized” because it is a p2p network, there are no servers. As for fighting spammers, the problem is there, it is not our main priority, but in Eppie you can generate as many addresses as you want. The user controls whether to make an address public or share it only with trusted contacts. And Whitelist is also in our backlog.
- rollcat 3y ago
  > What do you mean by “Email is already decentralized”? I can run my own email server in my basement, or on a VPS. > But as a user of email provider you are a client to a server in a centralized network. If I use my own email server, the network is only as centralised as the server itself; there's also nothing stopping me from hosting a second server on the other side of the planet, and using e.g. CockroachDB as the storage backend. > Eppie is “more decentralized” because it is a p2p network, there are no servers. What do I point my MX records at, then? > in Eppie you can generate as many addresses as you want. This strategy comes with its own shortcomings, and while it's a useful feature, it is not a be-all-end-all. There was a blog post which I can't find now, of some guy who had used it for something like a decade, detailing everything that went wrong with it: you need to keep track of which email you used where; people get confused which address to use to write you; once you decide to have a "primary" address, "for humans only", the scheme is more or less defeated as you can no longer afford to throw it away, etc. Don't get me wrong - it's very useful to have this, and I think it should be a standard offering from any and every provider. Just like GMail made GB+ of storage space the standard, addresses are in fact cheap. But that doesn't end spam. > And Whitelist is also in our backlog. I'm actually more interested in the complementary problem. How do you plan to address deliverability from your end? As I said, self-hosting an email server today is trivial, compared to the effort in ensuring your email doesn't get rejected by @gmail.com, @outlook.com, @yahoo.com, etc. Which is the core reason why email tends to be more centralised nowadays (even if the underlying protocol and infrastructure supports and encourages federation/decentralisation).

xrisk 3y ago

Look ma! They reinvented Freenet

valeryeppie 3y ago
It isn't new Freenet. It is a new email.

omega___ 3y ago

Decentralized? Email? What does the MX record point to?

valeryeppie 3y ago
Eppie is a next generation email, it is only partially compatible with the conventional technology.

valeryeppie 3y ago

MVP demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJbVIc--pHM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJbVIc--pHM ProtonMail integration demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkkGY5V0QLw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkkGY5V0QLw

Spare_account 3y ago
I don't understand what this is _for_? It is creating a second copy of all my email data on your cluster? For what benefit?
- valeryeppie 3y ago
  You create your account in the decentralized Eppie network aka web3 email, where you can transfer your old mailboxes along with all your contacts, emails, attachments, etc., while using your old addresses to communicate. From this moment on, your account and data are unblockable, untrackable, uncensored.
  - 9cb14c1ec0 3y ago
    I think this statement might convey a false sense of privacy. New incoming and outgoing messages that go through your old addresses can still be tracked, blocked, etc. If I understand correctly, the p2p aspect is only at play when sending emails to others on the eppie network. Otherwise, they go through whatever external mailbox is linked to the account.
    - valeryeppie 3y ago
      That's right. Thank you! Phrasing is important. There are few different pieces of functionality we are talking about here: 1. Eppie is a client to a p2p network based on its own protocol for decentralized messaging between Eppie users. 2. Eppie can also work as a conventional IMAP/SMTP email client. Obviously, you need to connect your centralized email account. 3. While doing so, you can optionally choose to move your data from that server to Eppie. Whether that email provider actually removes it from its storage is not under our control. 4. You can also use conventional email addresses for decentralized messaging. For this to work both users need to be Eppie clients. 5. When you message some user@email.com and they are not using Eppie, your message is sent over a traditional email network and does land on provider’s server, in which case it won’t be private anymore.

lastitude 3y ago

The text input fields on the poll/form are wonky.

valeryeppie 3y ago
Thank you for your feedback.

jesprenj 3y ago

What are its features? I did not see that on the webpage. Does it for example offer perfect anonymity even to network attackers, on a similar level BitMessage [0] provides? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitmessage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitmessage

valeryeppie 3y ago
Looks like our approach to anonymity is similar. Eppie’s addressees are pseudo-anonymous. That is a user keeps their anonymity as long as they don’t use same address for different correspondents and don’t allow an address to be associated with other services in a Public Registry. At this stage of development, we are not planning to build our own anonymous network, but Eppie will allow users to utilize existing technologies, like Tor and I2P, or configure a proxy server to anonymize their Eppie traffic. Here are the main features: Creating an account in a decentralized network. Full support for classic email + Proton Mail. Decentralized messages. Migration of the old mailbox to web3. Built-in identity manager. Ability to use Ethereum addresses. We are also preparing a website update. You can read more on features here: https://explorer.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/0x8de918f0163b2021839a8d84954dd7e8e151326d/0x8de918f0163b2021839a8d84954dd7e8e151326d-46 https://explorer.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/0x8de918f0163b2021839...
- jesprenj 3y ago
  Interesting! How does this <<feature Eppie can use conventional email as a name service: so you send a message to Gmail address, but it never lands on the server and goes straight to the decentralized network. feature work without a central name managing server?
  - valeryeppie 3y ago
    Yes, it does work without central name managing server. Sign up for early access to try it among the first.