Funding new development with EU grants

[rubdos]

@poetaster

I’ve stopped using whisperfish. It’s not usable. Sorry to be blunt.

I understand. There’s a reason I still label this as beta. It is not usable if you’re not willing to put time into reporting and debugging some issues. Given the technical debt that we are working through (and catching up on), the complexity of Signal itself (which we are catching up on), and the fact that we have to build our own ecosystem of support libraries (unlike Telegram with TDlib), this is probably one of the more complex applications that are being written for SailfishOS. We’re closing in on 0.6.0, and I would urge you to take a look again when we reach that point.

@poetaster

As for tor, it’s a false sense of security. Given the concentration of nodes here abouts (germany), I consider it to be a fish bowel. Every tor user I accomodate (ie. increase the timeouts on web services because of the lag on the tor network), INCREASES the likelyhood that they generate traffic that makes my hidden service less hidden. It’s not even funny how cat and mouse it is.

I agree on most of what you say here. However, there are very specific use cases where a Tor-style access to a network is useful, and the sealed sender socket is very probably one of them. These are one-shot, anonymous, unidentified sockets that are accessed per-recipient. Mapping those sockets on single-use Tor circuits should quite effectively help to totally hide your endpoint from Signal.

At least, in theory. Part of such an endeavour would be the evaluation in practice, which is something we can actually try out, thanks to Whisperfish.

[poetaster]

@rubdos

We’re closing in on 0.6.0, and I would urge you to take a look again when we reach that point.

I may do so to help with the engineering. But, since it’s in rust, which I abhor, I can’t really help that much. I follow the announcements, but since I bailed, most people have just stopped talking to me, which is quite ok

@rubdos

sealed sender socket is very probably one of them.

I gather this is research. In any case, hiding from signal, since they have your phone number (and they still have mine!) is a bit, well, you tell me? Sounds like it serves no purpose for the Signal case? But I can imagine a use case.

In any case, I’m grateful for any academic feedback, on keypeer.org, too Although it’s still so rough that it’s probably not worth the time.

[rubdos]

@poetaster

I gather this is research. In any case, hiding from signal, since they have your phone number (and they still have mine!) is a bit, well, you tell me? Sounds like it serves no purpose for the Signal case? But I can imagine a use case.

The purpose is to unlink sender from receiver, also at IP-level. Phone numbers is another topic, and there too I imagine thesis topics and internships

@poetaster

In any case, I’m grateful for any academic feedback, on keypeer.org, too Although it’s still so rough that it’s probably not worth the time.

If you ever feel like it’s less rough, this looks like something I would love to play with. Feel free to DM me, even without internship intentions

[poetaster]

@rubdos

Feel free to DM me, even without internship intentions

I’ll polish it up and let you know when it’s ‘up to snuff’, so to speak Thanks!

[rinigus]

To balance the feedback: I am quite happy with Whisperfish and always looking forward for its improvements. It is usable - at least by a light user

PS: and back to the original topic - EU development grants. Have to give constructive feedback regarding keypeer.org .

[poetaster]

Just to bump this because there isn’t much time left for the next application round, I’ve cleaned up the structure of the site some and would ask people to comment on Introduction ( keypeer.org/introduction.md at main · poetaster/keypeer.org · GitHub ) Currently there is a bunch of discussion going on in tickets, but that could be moved to the discussions in the repo. Thanks!

[poetaster]

The ‘we’re finalizing this’ draft of the application to NLnet is currently at: keypeer.org/nl.md at main · poetaster/keypeer.org · GitHub if anyone has time / means to comment. We’re applying at: NLnet; Apply for a grant under the NGI Zero Entrust Theme call. @hildon I know it’s not your interest area, per se, but feedback would be welcome!

[dcaliste]

Hello @poetaster and all members of this project. This looks really fantastic from my point of view. I’ve proposed a PR correcting some typos and asking some questions.

If I’ve time before this evening, I’ll try to read the call also to re-read the proposal with it in mind.

[poetaster]

So far it’s been @rinigus, the Sailmates and myself working on the proposal.But I’ll be very happy to add you!

[dcaliste]

Well thanks, but you’ve done guys, all the job. I’ve simply re-read and corrected some typos. But I wish the best for the initiative !

[poetaster]

Reminding me to fix typos albeit humiliating is important Thanks!

[dcaliste]

Well, later on, I read in the call that « our reviewers don’t care about spelling errors » after all ; D

[poetaster]

And just to add more stress to my post-employment life (!) https://prototypefund.de/ is opening up the next round for grant proposals next week. That’s restricted to people living in Germany, I believe.

[hildon]

Apologies, I did not have time to comment a lot on this. I am switching jobs and interviewing takes a lot of time, plus travel. Nonetheless, I skimmed through your proposal and it looked very cool. I hope you get funded! Keep us posted.

[poetaster]

No worries! Good luck with the job switch! I’m also unemployed at the moment and trying to use the time constructively!

[jojo]

Since another round of NLnet grant was opened (NGI0), i think it would be nice to gather here some ideas that can be funded. Next deadline is August 1st. In addition, I stumped upon a video where NLnet themself want to support Sailfish (36C3 - NGI Zero: A treasure trove of IT innovation - Invidious - 58:50).

At the Sailmates association we started collecting ideas that could be funded: Issues - boards - Codeberg.org but would be great if others here have additional ideas.

Since one can apply for multiple grants at the same time (NLnet; Frequently Asked (and/or Anticipated) Questions) there is no need to focus only on one topic.

To make it easier for applying (the Sailmates association being able to apply if you don’t wish to do so as an individual) I recommend answering the following questions, just like those bug reports to Jolla:

• project name
• description of the whole project and expected outcomes
• how would the grant budget be used ? (max budget 50k€)
• comparison with historical similar efforts
• technical challenges one might face
• ecosystem of the project (how to engage with relevant actors and promote outcomes)

I found an example of an application getting to the second round: #4 - NLNet - December 1st 2022 application (UI/UX) - sustainability - Codeberg.org that we could inspire ourselfs from.

BTW, maybe @hildon can change the title and remove the “deadlines soon” since it’s a cycle and if projects are not funded this time they might get it next time.

[hildon]

@jojo

BTW, maybe @hildon can change the title and remove the “deadlines soon” since it’s a cycle and if projects are not funded this time they might get it next time.

Apologies, but I couldn’t figure out how to edit the title. Is this still possible for an old thread?

[hildon]

There is yet another opening from NLnet / NGI, which this time is targeting ethical mobile software. Deadline to apply is Apr 1st at 12:00 CET.

I think this is really spot on to fund further development of any open Sailfish component or application! The call mentions F-Droid and some open Android components, but this is by no means excluding other efforts, and I think one could easily make the case for Sailfish.

Conditions are as usual, in principle maximum €50,000 per project, with the possibility to scale it up later on. They also offer the possibility of applying with several small projects coordinated under the umbrella of a larger effort.

Personally, I think this is a cool opportunity to send a little swarm of applications and try to revive Sailfish a bit, which seems to be languishing.

[poetaster]

Ah, it looks like @vlagged is doing an application in the Sailmates context for an FP5 port. SailfishOS on Fairphone5 application | Sailmates

I think we’d by very happy for contributions of ideas, etc …

[vlagged]

Thanks @poetaster ,
You can comment on codeberg #47 - initial sfos-fp5 application - sailmates/website - Codeberg.org