Nostr Web Client

What if DMs were device-based?

We could use a secret from the device to create a new private key to use exclusively DMs. Since the new DM key can stay in the device's secure element, there is no way for any other device to access your DMs, even if you keys leak (they will inevitably do).

Pros:

- avoids leaking DMs when the nostr key leaks.

- DMs that expire when the phone expires

Cons:

- users cannot migrate the DM history to a new phone/client

With private group DMs, we could add all device keys in a single DM message so that current devices of a user can read the DM history.

Léo Griffo ⚡🇧🇷⚡ 2y ago

I'm new to nostr and the whole decentralized world, so my question might be trivial.

When the time comes to change the device would you lose the network you built? Could you sign up to the new device with the same use name and still be verified?

One issue I see for less developed countries, like Brazil, is that cell phones are stollen all the time. It's not rare cases of people buying a new phone to have it stollen the next month. I device based identification would be very impractical for this scenarios.

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Discussion

Vitor Pamplona 2y ago

Currently, no. You just need to sign in with the same private key. Make sure to export it from the app and keep it safe.

Léo Griffo ⚡🇧🇷⚡ 2y ago

I believe I wasn't clear sharing question.

I understand a little bit how it works now. I would like to understand what you are proposing.

For what I understood, each device can be logged in to one user and the user will be linked to that specific device. Is that correct? If that is the case, my previous question comes with that assumption.

Vitor Pamplona 2y ago

On the new idea, the nostr master key would generate a new key for every device. The user wouldnt be able to export it. When you change phones, people would be forced to rotate their keys for the DMs, not for the rest of nostr. Their profile stays the same, but messages go somewhere else.

If we then add private groups (nostr doesn't have this yet) we could add all device keys in the same "group" so that all your DMs can be seen by all your devices.

Léo Griffo ⚡🇧🇷⚡ 2y ago

Got it! Thanks!