Lokinet is a onion-router (like tor, i2p) implementation of the LLARP protocol which tries to be a modern re-implementation of i2p. Session is a private messenger (like Signal) built using lokinet to hide metadata. If I understand correctly they have a cryptocurrency called oxen, which is earned or mined by providing servers to the loki network and oxen blockchain.

Imo they have these arguments on their side:

  • i2p is really slow and if re-implementing yields the results they claim it would be awesome
  • building a private messenger on top of onion-routing seems like a very good idea, since metadata is the new surveillance while it doesn’t generate massive amounts of traffic per user

What I worry about:

  • I don’t like cryptocurrencies in general, they haven’t yet proven that they can be used as anything but be used to speculate.
  • if people who are supposed to be the backbone of the onion-routing service are paid to do this I worry that in some (maybe new and still unknown) way this will weaken the network in comparison to a network run by volunteers and users (like tor and i2p). Maybe this will favor larger servers so all of the onion-routing is done in “the cloud” and none from home which in result is easier to surveil.
  • a talk at the yearly chaos computer congress about the alt-rights online behavior titled “Let’s play Infokrieg” (the talk is in German, but I linked the version with english live translation) talks about lokinet and how the developer advertised it on 8chan. This is all the connection they mention though and it’s pretty thin Imo.
  • in general I believe that cryptocurrencies don’t draw a very good crowd, also
  • I haven’t seen any reputable source advertise any of this. Not Lokinet, not session messenger, of course not their crypto coin…

Conclusion:

All of this isn’t a big problem, if they stay a small project. But them having the fastest onion-router, elon musk maybe tweeting about them and people flocking to them to “invest” might have the project gain momentum and them being the new tor or even bigger, applications built on top of it being a threat to signal etc.

I think some of their tech is very cool, a fast and modern onion-router could be very important for future secure web applications, but it’s troublesome

  • it’s in the hands of people nobody knows
  • motivated by financial gain
  • coupled with cryptocurrency

What are your thoughts on this? I am really interested to hear, how we should tackle this in your opinion.

  • fidibus@lemmy.161.socialOP
    2·
    3 years ago

    I found another interesting article:

    Simon Harman, 23, Loki’s project lead, said Mr Watkin’s plan was by and large a surprise — and one, he conceded, that might not be optimal for the company’s emerging reputation.

    Mr Harman says Loki did not invite 8kun onto its open source network nor help build it.

    But some Loki staff may have advised 8kun administrators “to a limited extent”, he said, and provided some help to users hoping to access it.

    “Generally, if we get requests for technical information about our platform, we’ll just give it out. It’s all up open source anyway,” he said.

    “There’s definitely been interaction between 8chan users and the Lokinet team. I’m not going to say that that hasn’t occurred, but I don’t think it’s anything out of the ordinary.”

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-11-08/8chan-is-back-online-and-an-australian-startup-accidently-helped/11682438

    But I think all in all there isn’t clear intent here, so we’ll just have to see what the future brings.

    Good luck to your team and such.

    I’d like to host a router if there ever is a fork that doesn’t need the Oxen stake.