Have you seen this news?
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@evan @benpate 100%, you should get to do whatever you want to do for your family, colleagues, or 15,000 person server (if that's your desire).
My original reply is in reference to the original post about E2EE being added to Mastodon, which has has historically kind of sort of not been super great on the admin-gets-to-choose front, so I'm on record now saying make it optional for admins, or I have to pass the torch.
Ok, I'm confused. What are your concerns exactly about E2EE in the fediverse? Is it added complexity for server admins?
As an user living through this period of the internet I barely see a reason why I wouldn't want E2EE for anything with direct personal communication. In fact I choose services exactly for that.
Shouldn't good E2EE be able to operate securely especially under hostile conditions? And is that not the point of open standards to do so?
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@rusty__shackleford @sampler @benpate
Great read! Thanks for taking the time to write and share
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@benpate I'm reminded of an old adage, Zawinski's Law: "Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can." I've always thought it was stupid. Not the law. The fact that it happens. I already have perfectly good messaging systems, I don't need another one. Can't programs just stick to doing what they do well and let other programs do what they do well?
I already have RCS, Signal, WhatsApp, Instagram, oh and E-mail ...Well, in a way, Mastodon already reads mail. I just see this as an upgrade to the existing feature set, but not really a change of mission.
I get your point that there’s already lots of encrypted messengers. But the encryption is the least interesting part. It’s the communities they serve that makes the biggest difference. And I believe E2EE will just help apps to serve people better.
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Well, in a way, Mastodon already reads mail. I just see this as an upgrade to the existing feature set, but not really a change of mission.
I get your point that there’s already lots of encrypted messengers. But the encryption is the least interesting part. It’s the communities they serve that makes the biggest difference. And I believe E2EE will just help apps to serve people better.
@benpate I just think it adds something that needs ongoing maintenance when it's not the core functionality of the system.
Add a way to share direct message links with matrix or signal or something instead. Alas -
@benpate I just think it adds something that needs ongoing maintenance when it's not the core functionality of the system.
Add a way to share direct message links with matrix or signal or something instead. AlasFor sure. The core feature set is growing. I’m lazer focused on E2EE at the moment, but there are actually a number of other BIG projects in their announcement. It’s going to be a very busy time at Mastodon HQ!
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Have you seen this news?
#Mastodon just got funding to add end to end encryption into their software.
So, some time next year, you’ll be able to send truly private messages to the vast majority of the #Fediverse
Im so excited about this.
Because it’s an open spec, this opens the doors for every Fediverse app to join the party.
Yesterday, this project was a proof of concept. Today, Mastodon has turned it into a stampede.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/04/sovereign-tech-agency-funding/
@benpate@mastodon.social Unable to decrypt message
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Have you seen this news?
#Mastodon just got funding to add end to end encryption into their software.
So, some time next year, you’ll be able to send truly private messages to the vast majority of the #Fediverse
Im so excited about this.
Because it’s an open spec, this opens the doors for every Fediverse app to join the party.
Yesterday, this project was a proof of concept. Today, Mastodon has turned it into a stampede.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/04/sovereign-tech-agency-funding/
@benpate
i cant wait for "Cant decrypt this message" -
Have you seen this news?
#Mastodon just got funding to add end to end encryption into their software.
So, some time next year, you’ll be able to send truly private messages to the vast majority of the #Fediverse
Im so excited about this.
Because it’s an open spec, this opens the doors for every Fediverse app to join the party.
Yesterday, this project was a proof of concept. Today, Mastodon has turned it into a stampede.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/04/sovereign-tech-agency-funding/
Is this similar to what @apps has implemented in @HolosSocial ? Will they be compatible then?
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Have you seen this news?
#Mastodon just got funding to add end to end encryption into their software.
So, some time next year, you’ll be able to send truly private messages to the vast majority of the #Fediverse
Im so excited about this.
Because it’s an open spec, this opens the doors for every Fediverse app to join the party.
Yesterday, this project was a proof of concept. Today, Mastodon has turned it into a stampede.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/04/sovereign-tech-agency-funding/
@benpate
Good information -
Ok, I'm confused. What are your concerns exactly about E2EE in the fediverse? Is it added complexity for server admins?
As an user living through this period of the internet I barely see a reason why I wouldn't want E2EE for anything with direct personal communication. In fact I choose services exactly for that.
Shouldn't good E2EE be able to operate securely especially under hostile conditions? And is that not the point of open standards to do so?
>Is it added complexity for server admins?
Yes
>Shouldn't good E2EE be able to operate securely especially under hostile conditions?
Yes
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Have you seen this news?
#Mastodon just got funding to add end to end encryption into their software.
So, some time next year, you’ll be able to send truly private messages to the vast majority of the #Fediverse
Im so excited about this.
Because it’s an open spec, this opens the doors for every Fediverse app to join the party.
Yesterday, this project was a proof of concept. Today, Mastodon has turned it into a stampede.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/04/sovereign-tech-agency-funding/
@benpate I don't understand the internet but this sounds like a huge improvement. And because it does, I think, can it remain inviolate?
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Is this similar to what @apps has implemented in @HolosSocial ? Will they be compatible then?
It’s very similar in principle, but different details mean that Holos will not be compatible with the Mastodon implementation.
Hey Holos guys/gals/peoples, we’d love to talk to you about making all these encrypted messengers work together. The spec is public and we’re meeting on video pretty regularly to work out details.
I know it sucks to refactor code, but just think of how cool it will be when all of these apps work together!
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@benpate I don't understand the internet but this sounds like a huge improvement. And because it does, I think, can it remain inviolate?
“Inviolate” is a pretty strong word..
I’d say that this will make it prohibitively expensive for most “people in the middle” of your conversations (like server mods, IT workers, web scrapers, or general looky-loos) to intercept your encrypted messages. MUCH better than what we have now.
There’s always other ways that a well funded or morally unhindered group can break into your stuff.
Relevant comic: https://xkcd.com/538/
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@benpate I'm reminded of an old adage, Zawinski's Law: "Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can." I've always thought it was stupid. Not the law. The fact that it happens. I already have perfectly good messaging systems, I don't need another one. Can't programs just stick to doing what they do well and let other programs do what they do well?
I already have RCS, Signal, WhatsApp, Instagram, oh and E-mail ...mastodon is doing DM encryption because users want it
that's all
"WhatsApp, Instagram"
why are you using those spy apps? you complain about bloat and intrusion, and use these?
i mean use them if you want to. but it's just odd to take a stand on a point of purity, then in the same comment, betray that very sense of purity
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@benpate I love that almost immediately after the announcement of potentially adding E2EE support there are a whole lot of posts saying "how dare they give us encryption!"
Like even if you have... some kind of bugaboo about it, it doesn't hurt you if it's there... It does, however, help protect a lot of users.
(And I'll never understand the "first fix absolutely everything else before adding anything new!" mentality. A. people can do two things at once, that's one of the great things about having more than one person working on a thing and B. there will always be something else that needs fixing. That is the nature of reality and imperfect things... If everything else must be fixed first, nothing would ever get done. Literally. We'd still be trying to perfect pointy sticks.)
because everyone is an armchair CEO
they have their own personal agenda, and their point of view is "anything that strays from my personal point of view is impure and insincere, somehow. oh, and this entitles me to whine and sometimes even be abusive about it on social media and dictate orders"
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@sampler @rusty__shackleford @dusk
A) that excludes 99% of the population, who deserve the same level of privacy as you do.
B) since it’s E2EE, most of the work is on your client. The updates to the server are minimal (C2S API + publish public key packages). So EVERY Fediverse server could support this. You’d just need a client that can send/receive encrypted messages.
C) Don’t let “perfect” be the enemy of “good” - giving people easy, modern tools is a win, even if the NSA can hack it.
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@benroyce @benpate @rusty__shackleford @dusk you guys are on an instance whose admin has decided to block most of the fediverse because someone somewhere might say a mean word at you and your admin thinks you can't handle it.
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mastodon is doing DM encryption because users want it
that's all
"WhatsApp, Instagram"
why are you using those spy apps? you complain about bloat and intrusion, and use these?
i mean use them if you want to. but it's just odd to take a stand on a point of purity, then in the same comment, betray that very sense of purity
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@benroyce @benpate @rusty__shackleford @dusk you guys are on an instance whose admin has decided to block most of the fediverse because someone somewhere might say a mean word at you and your admin thinks you can't handle it.
@sampler @rusty__shackleford @benpate @dusk
i give your troll attempt a... 3/10
nice try troll
keep working at it
remember: the point of trolling is entertainment, so you want to make me feel like i should go get the buttered popcorn
i believe in you. you can do it. be the best troll you can be! 💪 😤
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