Groups with threaded conversations
There is currently no way to write private messages to closed communities of a dozen members or more. In this epic, we want to implement and improve SSB Private Groups for adoption in Manyverse. This is a cryptographic mechanism to ensure that communities can talk in private. Additionally, we want to make sure that these communities have the tools they need to moderate and prune their social space for safety.
This epic is sponsored by the NGI Assure fund managed by NLnet with 50k EUR. The funded team working on this consists of Andre Staltz, Mix Irving, Nicholas Frota, Anders Rune Jensen, and Jacob Karlsson.
Assumptions
- validated: V
- to be validated: !
- open questions: ?
- V "private groups" is just the internal name. we can surface a new one to users.
- ? how do we protect ourselves from hiveminds, and hate groups? flagging? block group? are we creating a tool for fascist recuritment? and how to prevent it?
- V group is an object
- ? can group chats be also private groups? if not how we migrate?
- ? how can we help newcomers how to navigate in really long groups? subway map vision
- ? group doors are visible to outsiders
- registration request (form?)
- approval process
- who approves? just admin? everyone? settings?
- approval flow
- ! security group persona is not part of the scope:
- truly invisible groups (invitation only, no doors)
- no way to sniff group by looking at .ssb folder
- content also reads the user
- permissions to join group (consent)
- forward secrecy?
- can previous messages be seen with forward-secrecy?
- ? hostile users:
- deleting users from group, out of scope? who decides? who's notified?
- users blocked each other ouside groups, how do they see each other? truce model
- group forking, mass defection
- can two admins demote one another? which model we use?
- V group members share backups
- ? storage:
- where does blob, messages go when they traverse, encrypted?
- as user? something else?
- it's PRIVATE groups, eh? outsiders shouldn't see it
- can a member of a group NOT store it?
- V files are also encrypted
- ? subgroups:
- are subgroups ok?
- phase 2? (it depends on personas)
- subpermissions
- teams: possibility to create collections of people
- ? group personas
- ? off-grid festival
- ? private notes (multi-devices)
-
V family records: family wants to share pics/audio and docs, seamlessly and under data sovereignty
- storage: how does it work generation-wise?
- indigenous groups: collective mapping and oral stories, respecting data sovereignty
-
V organization coordination: organization hashes things out, takes decisions, and stores protocols
- examples: co-ops, volunteer groups
- ? documentation depends on edit/delete messages, teams, subgroups
- ? unions (secure group persona?)
- council notes where council members come to a decision in a private group and later reveal the discourse and result for transparency
-
V study groups: a book club using
ssb
for event planning, notes and overall book (or any media, in fact) criticism- underground parties
-
V media discussion:
- discussing a photo+description of food
- discussing a news article that someone shared
- discussing an object that someone shared
- special diet/fitness groups
-
V special needs:
- parents of autistic people
- recipes for gluten intolerant
- people with cancer (secure group persona?)
-
? political refugees: climate migration is on the rise. how can
ssb
help coordination of resources where corporate clouds fail?- maybe it's a secure group persona?
Edited by staltz