Modern secure messaging focuses on encrypting content while leaving the act of communication itself observable. In high-risk environments, this metadata observability is the primary vulnerability.
I'm proposing an alternative: Low-Observability Context Synchronization. Instead of transmitting explicit symbols, participants synchronize context through ordinary, non-salient interactions.
The goal is to shift the cost of surveillance from decryption to large-scale semantic inference. It’s a trade-off: we sacrifice scalability for reduced observability. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the economic feasibility of this model
schoen•1h ago
There have been some asynchronous secure messenger projects in the past (Pond and Secure Scuttlebutt come to mind). High latency is really important for defeating traffic analysis, but people are so unaccustomed to it now because of all the engineering work that's gone into successfully reducing the latency of almost all of our communication systems. Accepting high-latency messaging as a defense against traffic analysis might involve psychology even more than engineering: cultivating patience.
justinjeff•2h ago
I'm proposing an alternative: Low-Observability Context Synchronization. Instead of transmitting explicit symbols, participants synchronize context through ordinary, non-salient interactions.
The goal is to shift the cost of surveillance from decryption to large-scale semantic inference. It’s a trade-off: we sacrifice scalability for reduced observability. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the economic feasibility of this model
schoen•1h ago