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.
#E2EE
blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/04/…
Sovereign Tech Agency funding
Announcing a service agreement for new work to improve Mastodon and the broader ecosystem.Mastodon Blog
reshared this
Ben Pate 🤘🏻
in reply to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 • • •Whenever they write the Wikipedia article about E2EE, I just want a footnote in there...
#Mastodon was the artillery, the big guns that made the difference. #Bonfire and #Emissary were the special forces recon teams that made it possible.
Jens Finkhäuser
in reply to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 • • •e2ee on fedi?
Uh.
Ben Pate 🤘🏻
in reply to Jens Finkhäuser • • •@jens
Yes. We're launching in June. Mastodon is building in 2027.
It's a whole new Fedi.
Jens Finkhäuser
in reply to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 • • •Ben Pate 🤘🏻
in reply to Jens Finkhäuser • • •@jens
The primary spec for ActivityPub is here: swicg.github.io/activitypub-e2…
I have a project overview here: emissary.dev/e2ee <- this also includes links to the MLS protocol and other implementation resources.
My overview page WAS up to date, but I haven't posted much recently. But I *swear* I'm still making progress.
I'll show off a little of my work at #FediForum - and I'm sure we'll have larger conversations there about #E2EE in general.
Messaging Layer Security in ActivityPub
swicg.github.ioJens Finkhäuser
in reply to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 • • •Ben Pate 🤘🏻
in reply to Jens Finkhäuser • • •@jens Yeah, the MLS protocol is pretty solid. It's built/supported by a number of big industry groups who know what they're doing.
And, I'm not writing the encryption myself. I'm building on top of the *fabulous* ts-mls library by Luka Jacobowitz. He's been super-supportive and even helped me troubleshoot a few things.
I'm pretty sure Bonfire is using OpenMLS, which is equally awesome.
When Mastodon starts working in 2027, a lot of the groundwork will have been laid already.
Jens Finkhäuser
in reply to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 • • •Ben Pate 🤘🏻
in reply to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 • • •@jens
Here's a screenshot from my laptop this morning. It's a pretty good view of where I am on this project right now with #Emissary. "Please ignore my silly cats"
I've seen Bonfire's work, and they're even further along.
Jens Finkhäuser
in reply to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 • • •Scanned the specs.
Yeah, that's about how I'd have done it in AP. But the result is like encrypted email, metadata is still public.
That's more or less why I stopped looking at AP as a viable transport. But if you need to stay within it, then yes, looks reasonable.
I haven't looked in a lot of detail, obviously.
Ben Pate 🤘🏻
in reply to Jens Finkhäuser • • •@jens
Yes.
My understanding of MLS is that there is a fair amount of metadata that's public in general. So, group ids, and members of each group are more or less in plaintext, regardless of the transport.
So, it's not *perfect* but it's better than just sending everything in plaintext.
Jens Finkhäuser
in reply to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 • • •Oh yeah, exactly that.
In a green field design, you can encrypt almost all metadata, and make the rest sufficiently anonymized.
Sadly, that isn't going to integrate well with AP.
Ah, well.
lgsp
in reply to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 • • •Ben Pate 🤘🏻
in reply to lgsp • • •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!
@lgsp @apps @HolosSocial
Holos Social
in reply to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 • • •@lgsp @apps