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   Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jul-2024 00:15:11 JST Evan Prodromou

   Thanks to everyone who replied.

   I have talked to a lot of people on the Fediverse who think DMs appear in public feeds (local, federated, search, etc.).

   This is not the case.

   However, it's so easy to create a DM and accidentally set it to public that we see examples of the mistake all the time. If you don't check the UI carefully, you might think they're really DMs.

   Anyway, I'm strong disagree.

   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jul-2024 02:33:58 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Sean Coates

     @sean well, they're private as much as unencrypted email is private. But they're not private from the platform provider. I think we can do a lot better with E2EE.

   • Embed this notice
     Sean Coates (sean@scoat.es)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jul-2024 02:33:59 JST Sean Coates

     in reply to

     @evan I think part of that confusion is that DMs are not *private* (as far as access is concerned), they’re just direct.

     Meaning: people with database access, or otherwise-privileged access to the instances, can read the DMs. This is true of pretty much every system that does not explicitly state otherwise; it’s just confusing to some folks.

   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jul-2024 02:37:59 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Sean Coates

     @sean I wonder if there's a better word used in the privacy community for relative levels of privacy. Like, your electricity bill is private from your next door neighbour, but not from Hydro Quebec or from law enforcement. Your medical records are private from marketers, but not from your next of kin when you're incapacitated.

   • Embed this notice
     Sean Coates (sean@scoat.es)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jul-2024 02:38:00 JST Sean Coates

     in reply to

     @evan Yeah, I agree. What I meant is that some people hear that and think they’re public.

   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jul-2024 02:54:22 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Sean Coates

     @sean I'm going to ask around. Thanks for the convo.

   • Embed this notice
     Sean Coates (sean@scoat.es)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jul-2024 02:54:23 JST Sean Coates

     in reply to

     @evan That’s a good question. I’m not sure, myself. It’s really more like “non-public”, but that doesn’t have a good ring.