Privacy
Your name on the network
MeshChatX and NomadNet send out short announcements so others can find you. Each one carries the name you chose. Anyone on the network can read that name, now and later, and you cannot take it back.
Pick a name that says nothing about you. Do not use your real name, your town, your job, or a username you use anywhere else. The same goes for the name of a NomadNet node and for anything you write on its pages.
Your identity files
Your Reticulum identity is a small file on your computer. Whoever has it can act as you on the network. It lives in these folders:
| Folder | What is in it |
|---|---|
~/.reticulum | Your Reticulum identity and settings |
~/.meshchat | Your MeshChatX identity |
~/.meshchatx | Your MeshChatX messages and settings |
~/.nomadnetwork | Your NomadNet identity, if you use NomadNet |
Never send these folders to anyone, and never upload them. If you want a backup, copy them to a USB stick that you keep safe. The installer never copies or uploads them, and uninstalling leaves them in place.
Offline: your local network
By default your computer only talks to devices on the same Wi-Fi or Ethernet network. Anyone on that network can see that your computer runs Reticulum and can read your announcements. On a home network that is usually only your own devices. On a shared network, such as a café, a library or a workplace, it can be strangers.
Online: over I2P
When you go online, your computer reaches the wider network through I2P.
What stays private:
- Other people on Reticulum cannot see your internet address, and you cannot see theirs.
- Messages sent with MeshChatX are encrypted from your computer to the other person’s. Computers that pass them along cannot read them.
What others can learn:
- The I2P computers yours talks to directly can see that your internet address runs I2P. They cannot see what you do on it.
- The first time i2pd starts, it downloads a list of I2P computers from a few public “reseed” servers. Those servers see that your internet address is starting I2P.
- Your internet provider may be able to tell that you use I2P, though not what you do with it.
If anyone learning that you use I2P would put you at risk, stay offline.
Do not add or switch on anything on MeshChatX’s Interfaces page, including the suggested and “discovered” interfaces. Most connect over the plain internet, and a TCP server sees your real internet address. Our privacy promise covers only the connections the installer sets up.
Phones
Phone apps such as Columba and Sideband are not part of this project, and we have not tested them yet. What we know so far:
- At home, on your Wi-Fi, a phone can talk to the other Reticulum devices on your network, the same way your computer does. The same rule applies: anyone on that Wi-Fi can see that the phone runs Reticulum.
- Away from home, the phone has no private way onto the network yet. Columba does not list I2P as an option. Sideband lists I2P, but we have not tried it on a phone.
- These apps can also connect to a public TCP server. That server sees your phone’s internet address and can link it to your name on the network. It is the same warning as for MeshChatX above, and our privacy promise does not cover it.
Carrying traffic for others
If you answered Yes to “Carry traffic for other people’s devices?”, your computer passes on data for others. That data is encrypted, so your computer cannot read it.
MeshChatX stays on your computer
MeshChatX opens in your web browser, but the page comes from your own computer. Other computers cannot open it.