Blockchain-based decentralized messengers: A privacy pipedream?

As radical each implicit the globe person go progressively alert of their privateness rights and however they are perpetually being violated by assorted salient societal media platforms, the request for tangible, decentralized alternatives has continued to turn rapidly.

For perspective, successful 2019, Facebook was ordered to wage a mind-boggling $5-billion good by the United States Federal Trade Commission for improperly acquiring backstage data of up to 87 cardinal of its users. Just a twelvemonth later, the societal media elephantine had to shell out different $550 cardinal to settee a privateness suit that suggested that the steadfast had illegally accrued lawsuit information (including their biometric and idiosyncratic details) without their explicit consent.

Such violations person helped spur the request for transparency-driven societal media services, peculiarly decentralized messengers, that supply their users with a precocious grade of information security. In this regard, the caller quantum-resistant, privacy-centric messaging app XX Messenger — developed by cryptographer David Chaum — recently made its mode into the market. The app boasts a globally decentralized web of 350 nodes, with each relation earning the platform’s autochthonal XX Coin arsenic an inducement for their efforts.

A quantum-resistant messenger would beryllium capable to defy astir presently known methods of decryption, theoretically guarding against the anticipation of a quantum machine utilized to ace into a user’s communications.

The incentives for blockchain-based messengers

Guy Goldenberg, CEO of MultiNFT — a metaverse-based societal media web — told Cointelegraph that the request for decentralized messaging services is driven by 2 cardinal accelerating factors: users looking for censorship-resistant applications, and a deficiency of spot successful centralized providers erstwhile it comes to privateness and information protection. He said:

“Users are showing a rising interest erstwhile it comes to their state of code and the ownership of their information rights lately, and with the assistance of decentralized chat apps, the solution seems to beryllium close astir the country — platforms that are owned by the users and not by a tiny radical of executives, wherever nary azygous enactment tin power opinions oregon censor participants.”

Scott Cunningham, an autarkic blockchain expert and societal media influencer, told Cointelegraph that the halfway proposition enactment distant by decentralized messaging platforms is that they supply users with end-to-end encrypted solutions that guarantee user anonymity arsenic good arsenic a precocious grade of privacy. To fortify his case, helium shared a caller unpleasant acquisition with Facebook’s Messenger:

“I sent a enactment to myself [meant to beryllium work aboriginal by me] lone to find that Facebook is monitoring messages to myself and removed it owed to a assemblage violation. Once idiosyncratic experiences firsthand that everything they accidental is being tracked and evaluated successful real-time, they volition consciousness much compelled to move.”

The drawbacks are rather real 

While a decentralized messenger could theoretically sphere the privateness of the masses, blockchain exertion successful itself could beryllium a obstruction to adoption.

Ingo Rübe, laminitis of blockchain-based individuality web Kilt Protocol, noted that decentralized messengers request real-time relay and retention capabilities, arsenic it is rather unrealistic for receivers to beryllium online whenever idiosyncratic sends them a text. “A imaginable solution would beryllium to usage random azygous blockchain nodes arsenic relays, but it mightiness beryllium unreliable,” helium admitted. 

Goldenberg said that the usage of blockchain tech poses further problems erstwhile it comes to web upgrades. “Updates connected blockchain systems are precise seldom backwards compatible and tin sometimes contiguous issues that a merchandise whitethorn not beryllium capable to survive,” Goldenberg added.

Yung Beef, contented pb and assemblage manager astatine Subsocial — a Polkadot-based level for launching decentralized societal networks — told Cointelegraph that 1 of the biggest barriers is transaction fees, adding:

“We’re already struggling capable with creating a societal networking level that has transaction fees, and with however overmuch radical connection each other, I’m not definite that it would ever truly beryllium feasible.”

While helium admitted that Subsocial is actively looking for ways done which to instrumentality a backstage messaging module, the challenges are rather drastic, making the imaginativeness a spot of a pipedream. “We’re moving connected a mode to fastener SUB [the platform’s autochthonal crypto token] to get a definite fig of escaped transactions a day, but that inactive doesn’t lick the occupation of immoderate radical sending thousands of messages a day,” helium added.

A akin sentiment was echoed by Rübe, who told Cointelegraph that a decentralized messaging work would beryllium faced with aggregate challenges from the get-go, starting with the information that it would beryllium costly to enactment messages connected a blockchain. Even if they did marque their mode onto a network, they would not beryllium precise unafraid due to the fact that it would beryllium rather casual for anyone with entree to the strategy to work them. 

Alexander Klus, laminitis of Creaton — a decentralized contented sharing level — told Cointelegraph that a afloat functional, viable blockchain messenger is simply a precise hard occupation to solve, pointing retired that existing platforms specified arsenic Etherscan’s messaging work are rather centralized. Even Status, the authoritative Ethereum messenger, contains immoderate grade of centralization successful bid to standard better, helium said, adding:

“Choosing a level similar Signal arsenic a messaging level would beryllium best, arsenic it has precise bully encryption. Also, permanence successful presumption of messaging isn’t a large woody oregon thing astir users don’t adjacent privation anyway.”

Another large occupation is adoption since astir decentralized products that presently beryllium wrong this realm simply can’t vie with the giants they are up against specified arsenic Telegram, WhatsApp and WeChat. Goldenberg stated:

“Users person a habitual mode of doing things, and caller platforms request a viral accelerator for adoption due to the fact that they necessitate monolithic migration, which is astir not possible. You see, for a chat exertion to beryllium useful, you request each (or astir of) your contacts to usage it, and that takes time, selling and willingness.”

Is determination immoderate mediate crushed to beryllium found?

While fashionable privacy-oriented apps, including Signal and Telegram, assertion to attack idiosyncratic privateness with a large woody of care, making usage of end-to-end encryption oregon client-server encryption, the erstwhile is lone arsenic unafraid arsenic its coding. In this regard, Chaum pointed retired that messages from these platforms tin inactive theoretically beryllium compromised and decoded by a almighty machine if they person not been deleted permanently.

Therefore, moving forward, it volition beryllium absorbing to spot whether developers are capable to travel up with blockchain-powered messaging services that connection the aforesaid grade of functional and operational flexibility arsenic their centralized counterparts portion being capable to tackle the contented of precocious transaction fees successful a semipermanent and applicable manner.