Session | Send Messages, Not Metadata. | Private Messenger
getsession.org
Session is a private messenger that aims to remove any chance of metadata collection by routing all messages through an onion routing network.

I’m aware that Session has been discussed twice before on this community, but the last thread was 6 months old so excuse my starting a new one.

There’s one big concern I wanted to bring up, which is the disagreements over whether it has forward secrecy. The spec says it does, but I’ve found two other sources saying it doesn’t:

https://restoreprivacy.com/secure-encrypted-messaging-apps/session/ (search for “Perfect Forward Secrecy removed”) https://www.securemessagingapps.com

Why are they saying this? Is there a critical caveat to Session’s forward secrecy (does it not have it in closed groups?), or are both sources just wrong?

(I’ve also heard one source say its closed groups are limited to 10 members which would be a showstopper for me and another source say they’re limited to 100 and the spec says 500 so i don’t know what to believe.)

I’m also concerned about it being built on top of a blockchain and cryptocurrency, not because I’m suspicious of cryptocurrency in general but because I find it difficult to understand, and because that it costs thousands of dollars to run a Session node seems to me like the network is bound to be owned exclusively by a few rich companies and investors. Is it? Is there a place I can see who owns how much of it, particularly how much is owned by the Oxen developers?

UPDATE: I believe I’ve just learned that Sesison DOES NOT have forward secrecy or deniability; the whitepaper linked on their CURRENT website is outdated. https://getsession.org/blog/session-protocol-technical-information

  • Yujiri@lemmy.mlOP
    12·
    3 years ago

    Apparently, Oxen is a fork of Monero, which is apparently an almost fully private crypto. I’m all for privacy of information, knowledge and messages but I don’t think money aka power should be private. Incredibly bad for democracy, not to mention it goes against the idea of taxation. This is pretty much a deal breaker for me for a messenger that would strive to become mainstream and challenge the big tech oligopolies.

    We probably aren’t going to agree here because undermining democracy and taxation is music to my ears :P

    Though to be fair, I find your vision of taxation enforced by technology and given directly to poorer users rather than enforced by the state and given to the state, to be quite appealing.

    As for Briar, I looked into it some time ago and came away thinking I would switch to it (away from Matrix) if it weren’t Android-only. Requiring a phone is a deal breaker for me.