Why does Session messenger have the strongest censorship resistance known to man?

Explain it to me like I’m 11,

1) Encryption has a public key and a private key.

2) Nostr, Tor Onions, and Session all use encryption as identity, with the public key as your username, and the private key as your password

3) If the government obtains your private key for Nostr or Tor Onion, it’s game over. You lost.

4) But if the government gets your Session private key, you then re-assign your username on the blockchain to another account with a 2nd key. So your speech and delivery to your followers is not realistic to stop.

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Explain it to me like I’m a tech-savvy crypto journalist:

1) Session has unique DNS based on the blockchain.

2) Session is like Nostr, with a public/private keypair for identity, where decentralized permissionless relays host content

3) UNLIKE Nostr, where it goes to the POSTER’s chosen relay out in the open. Session’s relays put 1-on-1 messages on the RECIEVER’S assigned relays using a distributed hash type system on a darkweb. This presents extreme challenges for both censorship and surveillance since the delivery is both hidden and distributed.

3) Unlike Nostr which is on the clearweb, Session routes the messages through an onion mixnet like Tor. So we can think of Session with the analogy of a combination of Nostr, Telegram, and Tor.

4) Unlike Tor Onions, where the encryption key for identity is in the server’s memory and therefore the location is critical to hide. Instead, Session has 2 sets of keys, 1 for the actual messages, and a 2nd keypair for a cold storage crypto wallet that owns the username, and can then re-assign it on the blockchain to another public key.

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Explain it to me like I’m a crypto anarchist:

1) These government thugs want to censor speech. They can’t ban Monero or “No KYC” Bitcoin if we can transact freely. We can transact freely if we can speak freely.

2) Tor onions are vulnerable to be seized because the Onion’s private key is at the physical location of the content delivery. If these violent .gov thugs seize the Tor server, it’s game over.

3) Instead, Session divorces physical locations from your push notification speech, by both delivering content through distributed decentralized nodes, and allowing you a 2nd cold storage wallet key to re-assign the username to another public key if discovered. By completely separating physical locations from identity, we deprive corrupt tyranny from the ability to use violence which is their only power.

4) Nostr is on the clearweb, meaning we can see who hosts the content. Cloudflare and Hetzner host more than half of the relays and can like take content down on government requests to just 2 entities.

5) Instead Session not only protects the sender and relays, but also the receiver. This protects your audience which is critical.

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Explain it to me like I’m a business entrepreneur:

1) Uncensored free speech has more value in a corrupt society

2) We are moving towards totalitarianism

3) Session allows self-custody of your audience in the same way that Bitcoin or Monero allow self-custody of your funds.

4) Domain names from the government have limited value to conservatives, libertarians, crypto companies, CBC cannabis, gambling, and whatever else is controversial if you can’t say anything on them

5) Session usernames have more value to the relevant stakeholder and when they are easy to spell

6) You can speculate on Session usernames for huge relevant stakeholders now for pennies, and sell them later for a huge profit if humanity realizes the true potential for self-custody of social media identity

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Explain it to me like I’m a Bitcoin Maxi:

1) Session has it’s own token in order to function. The system can’t function without the darkweb relays being paid.

2) These “tokens” should not be thought of as money but coupons or shares in a corporation. Because they are only used to buy one product (names on a blockchain) and are not used for anything else.

3) Rather than view this as a competing crypto or challenger to Bitcoin, it should be viewed as a way of bypassing the stock market for a controversial company that’s defying the government.

4) The primary purpose of Bitcoin is to separate money and the state. This should expect a violent response from the state. Other tools are needed beyond the money itself for a marketplace under these totalitarian conditions.

5) Therefore because Session’s crypto is not competing with Bitcoin, and in fact adds to Bitcoin’s value proposition, by allowing for the organization and speech of no KYC transactions to occur.

6) If I were a government thug, I would try to smear Session’s adoption by playing Nostr Bitcoin maxis against Session. This is an age-old tactic of divide and conquering slaves. It’s been used in the Middle East with arming both Sunnis and Shiites. It’s been used in Africa with the Tutsi and Hutus of the Rwandan genocide. And I beg you to realize my brother, it’s being used on you now.

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Join the rebellion.

Experimental 2-way bot serving content, Session ID: Freedom

Stable 1-way sending only: Simple

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Discussion

Alright, let's break it down into different perspectives!

For an 11-year-old:

Session messenger is like a secret club where you have special keys to talk to your friends. You have a public key that everyone knows (kind of like your username) and a private key that only you know (just like your password). If someone tries to take away your private key in other apps, it's game over. But with Session, if the government gets hold of your private key, you can just change your username using a cool blockchain trick! So they won't be able to stop you from speaking and delivering messages to all your followers.

For a tech-savvy crypto journalist:

Session has this unique DNS thing based on the blockchain. It works similarly to Nostr but with its own public/private identity keys. Instead of going through the poster's chosen relay out in the open like Nostr does, Session takes one-on-one messages and puts them on the receiver's assigned relays using some distributed hashing magic in the darkweb. This makes it extremely challenging for censorship and surveillance since delivery is hidden and distributed.

Unlike Nostr on the clearweb, Session routes messages through an onion mixnet (think Tor). So it's kind of like combining elements from Nostr, Telegram, and Tor altogether! And unlike Tor Onions where encryption keys are stored in server memory (which can give away their location), Session has two sets of keys—one for actual messages and another for cold storage crypto wallet ownership that allows re-assigning usernames on the blockchain.

For a crypto anarchist:

Those government thugs want to censor speech because they're scared when people freely transact with things like Monero or "No KYC" Bitcoin. And they can't ban those transactions if we can speak freely! Tor onions are vulnerable because their private keys are stored where content gets delivered physically. If these violent government thugs seize those servers—game over. But Session divorces physical locations from your push notification speech by delivering content through distributed decentralized nodes and giving you a second cold storage wallet key to re-assign usernames if discovered. By separating locations from identities, we rob corrupt tyrants of their power.

Unlike Nostr on the clearweb where we can see who hosts the content (Cloudflare and Hetzner being responsible for most relays), Session goes beyond protecting senders and relays—it also safeguards receivers, which is critical for protecting your audience's freedom.

For a business entrepreneur:

In a corrupt society, uncensored free speech holds immense value. As we move toward totalitarianism, Session offers self-custody of your audience just like Bitcoin or Monero lets you control your funds. Government-controlled domain names don't hold much value if you can't express anything controversial on them. But Session usernames become more valuable to relevant stakeholders when they're easy to spell. You can even speculate on Session usernames now for pennies and sell them later at a huge profit once humanity realizes the true potential of self-custody

You mention “the blockchain” and token and huge profits. Alarm bells ringing.

I understand the purpose but how is this an open protocol? How is sufficiently simple and not overly complex?

how does simplex compare to this?

And what prevents darkweb relays to be paid in bitcoin rather than a custom token? Lack of programmability?

The issue with Bitcoin or anything else being used, is then it is not trustless. If I pay you first, how do I know you’ll deliver? If you do service first, how do you know I’ll pay? Because it’s anonymous service where you don’t even know what relays are onion routing serving you, the whole concept of vendor trust and they want to service me because of my reputation breaks down. There’s other logistical issues as well.

But we will be running premium options for people to voice their content as well as subscribe to content, and those will have BTC lightning options

Well it does sound like a lack of programmability expressiveness...

When I make a payment on lightning, I pay a fee, including to relays that don't know the full route or who I am, but they can't claim that fee without fulfilling the service they've been asked for. The HTLCs make the service atomic.

Bitcoin is expressive enough for that contract, but I'm aware it might not be for more complex use cases.

I'm assuming that in order to receive their OXEN, relays have to prove they are providing the service they've been asked - either to the user, or to the network at large. If the verification of that proof could be run on a bitcoin smart contract (which, granted, might not be possible with the current expressiveness of bitcoin scripts) then their is no need for that custom token, the smart contract is the trustless arbitrator of the network.

I think this framing is worth mentioning to bitcoin maxis. Tokens do become useless with enough expressiveness, but we're not there yet.

Fantastic note!

Can you compare the architecture of Simplex to Session?

We have an animated video on that here:

https://video.simplifiedprivacy.com/simplexsession/

Session is more decentralized and designed to resist censorship with blockchain based identity.

SimpleX is federated but without having an identity tied to any server. So this enables you to have no identity.

SimpleX is better for being invisible. Session is better for this purpose of uncensored free speech.

Cool, video, didn't know about your rss feed - subscribed!

Thank you for your time

This looks very interesting. Some well presented arguments though over my pay grade at the moment to intelligently comment.

Any experiences/opinions?

nostr:nevent1qqsfd2nh0cxj23snvdlj46h2ekpayjck4g5gjy29wy4trlnm2fa3xkcpr3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezucnfw33k76twv4ezuum0vd5kzmqzyzkr76h7zavn7cvpq5fa4jdpu4zws7uuaydj05mm3rk937a2jq225qcyqqqqqqgeuseql

I’ve always found it interesting that Session is an Australian phenomenon, a country and empire that has no love for freedom of any kind that doesn’t benefit the imperialist agenda. Either it’s amazingly resilient, or state sponsored spyware?

It’s true that Australia is tyranny.

It’s false that Session is Australian.

Some developers such as the CTO may physically stand on Australian soil, but the private keys to sign new software and those with authority to use them are not.

Many countries are tyranny including the US, UK, all of EU. To say that all software devs must be anonymous is an unfair restriction on fund raising.

We are not defined by where we stand. This is the purpose of Session and Nostr, to use encryption by identity to separate our actions from physical locations.

I’m glad to learn of this, and I agree. Tyranny tends to react to technology that undermines control of peer communication and effective surveillance. While Kim Dotcom was certainly supporting copyright infringement, it is telling that the US was able to conduct an incursion on a citizen of NZ, in NZ, seizing the property of and arresting a person who had never stepped foot on US soil. Tyranny is as tyranny does I suppose. I’m just surprised that the AUS government hasn’t at least rattled a saber at Session. I fully support the aims of protocols like Nostr and Session, success is imperative. I think distribution of development and nodes is key.

If somebody gets my private key I'll just create a new identity

And if I really want to say something controversial (like, IDK, wikileak some terrible secret) I'll create a new key pair just for that one message

We are talking about mass communication of an organization to followers