LibCwtch is our interface (API) library to Cwtch, which was started over 3 years ago as a Go language project. Since then we have started using Flutter and Dart to build our front end UI which meant we needed a more language agnostic interface to Cwtch so we created libCwtch, which is some wrapper functionality around Cwtch and it compiles to a C library that any language can access via FFI. The first language binding we made for libCwtch was Dart which is currently built into our cwtch-ui. At some point we’d like to find the time to break the Dart bindings out into a standalone Dart package that anyone can use to access libCwtch from Flutter/Dart.

Since starting work with Go 3 years ago our interest in working in Rust has been growing so it was the logical next language we would look at to create bindings for.

Welcome to Discreet Log! A fortnightly technical development blog to provide an in-depth look into the research, projects and tools that we work on at Open Privacy. For our 17th edition Erinn Atwater answers some questions about the new filesharing feature in Cwtch 1.3.

Today’s release of Cwtch 1.3 includes support for a new experimental feature: file sharing! Windows, Mac, Linux and Android users can enable the File Sharing experiment from the global settings panel. Files are sent peer-to-peer directly over Cwtch/tor connections. In this week’s Discreet Log, I thought I’d answer some questions about the finer points of how it all works.

Three years ago, on February 11th 2018, we officially incorporated the Open Privacy Research Society. At that point in time I don’t think any of us had any idea how the following years would go.

2020 was difficult and challenging. The work outlined here is a fraction of what we had hoped to achieve. 2020 impacted our projects, our priorities, and our lives. That said, I think it represents some of the most important work we have done so far, and I am excited to push it as far as we can in 2021.

This work couldn’t exist without an active and amazing base of supporters, like you, who enable our mission - researching and developing privacy enhancing technologies focused on those people and communities that need them most.

To celebrate our 3rd year anniversary I would like to invite you to review some of the amazing work that you helped support in 2020 - and once again ask for your help and support to help us continue our mission in 2021.

Today we are releasing the first cut of Lockbox, an application for creating simple encrypted web forms!