Show HN: s@: decentralized social networking over static sites (satproto.org)

Article summary

The article introduces s@, a decentralized social networking protocol based on static sites, where each user owns a static website storing their data in encrypted JSON stores. The protocol allows users to follow each other and share posts, which are encrypted and can only be decrypted by the intended recipients. The system is designed to be self-reliant and does not rely on any servers or relays. It uses a combination of HTTPS/TLS and X25519 keypairs for authentication and encryption.

Main themes

• Decentralized social networking
• Static site protocol
• Encryption and authentication
• Self-reliant systems
• Decentralized data storage

What commenters say

• The s@ protocol is not truly static due to its complex cryptographic signing requirements.
• The use of encryption and key rotation in s@ provides strong identity guarantees and private messaging capabilities.
• The protocol's reliance on a common content key for all viewers of a particular author's posts is a potential security vulnerability.
• The s@ protocol is similar to existing technologies such as PGP and RSS, but with added encryption and authentication features.
• The system's scalability is limited by design, and it is not intended for large-scale social networking.
• The use of a well-known URI scheme could improve the protocol's discoverability and compatibility.
• The protocol's security relies on the security of the underlying cryptographic primitives, such as X25519 and libsodium.
• The s@ protocol is a thin wrapper around existing cryptographic libraries and may not be a fully fleshed-out protocol.