It seems like at every turn the word private is avoided and replaced with "non-public".
I understand that the system probably is sound, the data just isn't encrypted, which I wouldn't necessarily expect. Maybe it's completely clear for users familiar with AtProto, but for others it needs to be clearer on some things:
- Where exactly is the data is stored
- Who is the "space authority" and why should they be trusted
- Strategies where you can manually encrypt/decrypt the data put in spaces
And avoid sketchy sounding terms like "non-public".
I am not developing with the ATproto, but keep an eye on the specs. There is a lot brewing in that ecosystem so I understand your skepticism.
I think that avoiding the word “private” is absolutely the right move here, because they are not building for the individual privacy. That’s not what the spec is intending to unlock. Their goal is to enable the next set of apps, that need to enable sharing of content with a specific and controlled group of users.
The data is stored in a PDS. You can use the one that Bluesky PBC or any other service provider provides, or you can self-host.
Space Authority is a DID, per the link above. So, in ATProto land, that’s just an account. The authority DID controls the accesss to the the space for other DIDs.
I can’t answer your question about encryption. Hard to answer it without a specific use case.
Comments
It seems like at every turn the word private is avoided and replaced with "non-public".
I understand that the system probably is sound, the data just isn't encrypted, which I wouldn't necessarily expect. Maybe it's completely clear for users familiar with AtProto, but for others it needs to be clearer on some things:
- Where exactly is the data is stored
- Who is the "space authority" and why should they be trusted
- Strategies where you can manually encrypt/decrypt the data put in spaces
And avoid sketchy sounding terms like "non-public".
I am not developing with the ATproto, but keep an eye on the specs. There is a lot brewing in that ecosystem so I understand your skepticism.
I think that avoiding the word “private” is absolutely the right move here, because they are not building for the individual privacy. That’s not what the spec is intending to unlock. Their goal is to enable the next set of apps, that need to enable sharing of content with a specific and controlled group of users.
The data is stored in a PDS. You can use the one that Bluesky PBC or any other service provider provides, or you can self-host.
Space Authority is a DID, per the link above. So, in ATProto land, that’s just an account. The authority DID controls the accesss to the the space for other DIDs.
I can’t answer your question about encryption. Hard to answer it without a specific use case.