Bored on holidays or miss Omegle? Come chat with us on MeroChat!

It’s a web based random chat where you’re presented with a flow of user profiles, whom you can choose to chat with. And of course someone else might find you the same way and send you a message out of the blue (provided your privacy settings allow it).

And here’s the code. (Written in PureScript!) A lot remains to be done but it’s a joyful thing already.

  • @[email protected]
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    323 hours ago

    At the bottom of the page, “Privacy Policy” is misspelled “Privacy Police”. I don’t know if you have any power to change that, but I thought I should point it out.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      11 hours ago

      I’m not saying that a single bot hasn’t gotten through, but probably you’re referring to the auto filled profiles? It’s just a way for them to be non-empty.

  • @[email protected]
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    252 days ago

    Messages are not end to end encrypted and can thus be read from service provider.

    Additionally Google is integrated into website.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      122 days ago

      That’s true. It’s due to lack of implementation.

      Getting e2ee right is tricky business. Any help or insight would be appreciated.

      • Semperverus
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        2 days ago

        Look into libaxolotl (AKA “OMEMO”), it is the same system Signal uses and is highly standardized.

      • @[email protected]
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        52 days ago

        I know Matrix has E2EE with some public documentation on its implementation. Maybe it could help you? Idk how familiar you’re with E2EE or what kind of implementation you’d want, anything will have drawbacks :/

        • @[email protected]OP
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          2 days ago

          Thanks for the tip!

          I have somewhat of a grasp on how Signal does it, but that’s very client oriented. How to go about it a web app is a mystery to me.

          • @[email protected]
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            1 day ago

            Yeah, I’m not used to E2EE in the browser either and StackExchange seems to agree that there’s no nice solution :/

            The sanest option in terms of user practicality to me appears to be storing the private key on the server, maybe encrypted with the user’s password, and sending it to the user on successful login where it would be decrypted client side. It seems like it’s more or less what MEGA is doing since they have a similar issue

            If the server having temporary access to the user’s password is an issue maybe the password could be partially pre-hashed before being sent?

            It’s be interesting to talk about it with someone with more experience, especially since implementing all of that will be a pain so it can’t be redone every Thursday

            • @[email protected]OP
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              31 day ago

              The sanest option in terms of user practicality to me appears to be storing the private key on the server, maybe encrypted with the user’s password, and sending it to the user on successful login where it would be decrypted client side.

              That does seem reasonable, but it doesn’t solve the trust issue. The server might always send a modified script that just uploads the plaintext private key.

              That said it would still be useful in other ways. Like in a breach the data would be secure.

              • @[email protected]
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                224 hours ago

                The server might always send a modified script that just uploads the plaintext private key.

                Yeah, you’d need a way to validate the client code before it’s executed to solve that issue

                Section “2. Client application security” of MEGA’s Security Whitepaper discusses this exact problem. Their best solution to that issue is to just cram the whole frontend in a signed web extension and not serve any code to the user when the extension is active, which is not very user friendly but works for those who want an extra layer of protection

                I just can’t find a good user-friendly implementation, sorry for not being of more help. The web just isn’t E2EE-friendly ig :/

                • @[email protected]OP
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                  216 hours ago

                  You’ve helped enough :)

                  Hmmm I see.

                  We have an app in the making, so I guess we will eventually implement proper e2ee there and then just try our best in the browser.

  • rhythmisaprancer
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    122 days ago

    Why upload duck-face pictures when you can talk about dancing plagues of the 16th century?

    Hilarious 😂 looks like you (and others?) have put some effort into this.

  • @[email protected]
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    01 day ago

    Written in PureScript

    Using a purely functional niche language like that will really prevent good developers from contributing IMO.

  • Alfenstein
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    42 days ago

    Cool 😎 But it feels more like a dating app than an Omegle alternative. But I like the concept.