nostr
Nostr - Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays
The simplest open protocol that is able to create a censorship-resistant global "social" network once and for all.
It's a very simple idea: each person can publish their notes to multiple relays (which are just simple servers), and people who follow them can connect to these relays and fetch the notes. The protocol just defines the messages that can be sent between clients and relays in order to publish and fetch the content they want.
Relays can also lie about data published by others, but to ensure that isn't a problem, public-key cryptography is used and every note is signed. When you follow someone you're actually following their public key and clients will check notes received from relays to ensure they were properly signed.
The hardest part is how to find in which relay you will find notes of each person you follow, since they can be anywhere.
Nostr uses a public key system, where your identity is tied to a unique cryptographic key. You have full control over your identity without relying on any central authority. Nostr's protocol eliminates the need for Know Your Customer (KYC) processes. No email, ID, thumbprint, or eyeball scans required! Your privacy is entirely yours to keep.
In Nostr, users sign their posts with their cryptographic keys. Most clients handle this process automatically. These cryptographic signatures ensure the authenticity of your data. You can prove what you did (and did not) create. User-selected relays store and send this data. These relays communicate directly with other users, with no stops between. Each client then validates these signatures, ensuring the data's integrity.
In Nostr, you maintain your audience and feed. Whichever client you use, your contact list will be there. It is published to the relays of your choice, as is that of other users. Everyone chooses their preferred publication relays, and clients connect to those to find new posts. Additionally, relays can act as filters against spam or harassment, and as discovery vehicles for good content, aggregators of curated content, or providers of custom feeds.
You can publish anything you want as long as relays are willing to accept it. Relays can operate under any policies their operators may choose, including bans, content removal, and community guidelines. They may choose to host only certain users or specific types of content. If no relay will accept what you have to say, you can easily run your own. When you begin publishing to different relays, clients should be capable of finding you there, based on attached relay hints. Your contacts will then continue to receive your updates.
Nostr supports user anonymity. Users can choose to be anonymous or use pseudonyms without compromising their ability to participate. Nostr is also available on TOR to prevent tracking. As a protocol, Nostr does not have the capacity to provide user data to any entity, governmental or otherwise. This helps to safeguard all users' freedom of expression from prohibitions or restrictions. Any individual relay or client could be subject to these requests, but available data would be limited to that of a user's public key. If that user has taken appropriate steps to protect their identity, there would be little information to share.
Nostr encourages development and customization. Anyone is free to develop on the protocol, contributing to the growth and evolution of the network. All Nostr clients, relays, tools, and apps that are built can benefit from every past and future development. Builders have the freedom to establish payment methods for their applications and features, providing a potential source of revenue like never before.
nak (Nostr Army Knife) CLI tool
noscl - Command line client for Nostr
go install github.com/fiatjaf/noscl@latest