ungoogled-chromium

Let me tell you a secret: any linux distribution is a kernel + a set of pre-installed drivers and programs + their configs. Nothing more than that! Most distributions use the same kernel and roughly the same set of programs. The only differences are in the desktop environment and initial settings.

I would recommend Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) as a start choice. Do not trust those who say that if you choose a “beginner’s distro” you won’t have to get into the console or text configs. Your choice of distro will determine how often you’ll do this.

As a regular user, I’ve used different distributions and always something didn’t work. Many issues couldn’t be solved via GUI, so I had to deep dive into both the console and all Linux services.

P.S. Arch Linux daily-driver.

Arrr! Ok, correcting to “with both hands”! Sounds better?

Both hands in favor!

We are together with you in favor of XMPP (I am with both hands)! You just “won’t sell” that kind of solution to very many people. We are already living in a zoo of messengers. We need to come up with at least two that will cover all the basic needs and offer sufficient privacy.

Matrix’s groups have an important difference from SimpleX. Even if the primary server is gone, the related servers will still have the copies.

This!

Seems that’s true. Text-only communication in Briar is built by design. I see this from its communication scheme. I don’t think any other message options will come up. So I am also on it in case of the Internet outage. Besides, you can chat properly only when you and your contact are both online. Not a very handy option for daily use.

So SimpleX.Chat for privacy and Matrix for public groups.

Sounds reasonable! 👍

If a server is hosting our data, albeit in encrypted form, there is always the risk of the server being compromised. You know the history of PGP and why OpenPGP was created, don’t you?

One of the options, where every user device is a server, is a blockchain. But I think you’ll also agree that this scheme doesn’t give complete privacy.

The issue of privacy in this case is a convenience issue. To me, federated is not a checkbox type property: it’s either there or it’s not. To me, it’s a spectrum: some protocol is more federated, some less so. We could design a fully privacy-aware protocol and service that can only partially be considered as federated. You may disagree with me, but I haven’t seen a clear definition with a complete list of federated protocol properties 😉

Agreed, it’s a contradiction to be privacy and federated at the same time. The federated protocol helps the network to be fault-tolerant and cooperative. In other words, it’s easier for us to find each other, and afterward it’s harder to lose each other. It obviously doesn’t condone privacy 😄

Like Snikket

I think it’s unlikely this kind of service exists or is going to appear. There’s a blog post by developers of the present implementations of XMPP. It explains the difference between decentralized services and centralized ones, and why the Signal messenger is more popular than all other messengers. A must-read.

Here, the author refers to protocol as federated, not application. That is, he is comparing Matrix, IRC, SMTP, ActivityPub, etc. If a protocol can be used to develop an application that is decentralized and distributed, then such protocol can be called a federated protocol. I agree with you that labeling HTTP and FTP as federated is bizarre. But the author compares them because they are all from the same OSI model layer - application layer.

I’m not the author, just trying to give an explanation of how he was thinking (and I’m most likely wrong 😄).

The author’s explanation using HTTP as an example:

HTTP has somehow managed to live in a parallel universe, as it’s technically still completely federated: anyone can start a web server if they have a public IP address and anyone can connect to it. The catch, of course, is how you find the darn thing.

We recently discussed it in another thread. I recommend you read it, there are a lot of facts in the comments that will definitely help you make up your mind!

I don’t use it as my default provider. Obviously, for some messaging, I use Proton. But if you need a FOSS provider, that will be used for registration in some services and password recovery, this is a very good option! They don’t use this information for commercial purposes, that’s already better than Gmail or Outlook.

Fantlab for the Russian-speaking community. Couldn’t find anything better on the Anglosphere internet.

LibraryThing for English-speaking people. I use it for the rest.

Well, you know, e-mail gives you complete privacy only in special cases. There is a reddit’s comments thread about this. Non-gmail e-mail is only needed to avoid monitoring by the mail service provider.

TL;DR If you need complete privacy of communication, use Matrix-based software with your own server located in a neutral country.

They don’t.

I’m surprised no one’s posted about Skiff.

Looks like a broken windows theory example. Reminds me of the situation with the CentOS sources.

I think this is successive stories and probing the ground.

Agreed! Many times I faced the fact that the Chrome developers don’t follow the W3C standards, but they require it from Mozilla. Therefore, some functionality will only work in Chrome, but not in Mozilla (it’s not their bad!).