faqfrequently asked questions

Imagine having a safe, secure place online that's all yours — a home where you can store your memories, talk directly with friends and family, and manage your digital life with complete privacy. That's what Homebase is all about. We're here to transform the way you think about your online presence, giving you total control over your personal data and interactions in a way that respects your rights and freedoms.

With Homebase, our mission is to put the power back in your hands. From secure, encrypted storage for all your digital treasures to private, peer-to-peer chats that are as confidential as whispers, we're building an ecosystem that values privacy, security, and individual choice. Our social network lets you connect and share on your terms, creating a space that's genuinely yours, free from the oversight and control of big tech companies.

In technical terms, Homebase integrates cutting-edge concepts like self-sovereign identity, zero-knowledge encryption, and decentralized architecture, all designed to ensure your digital sovereignty. These components work together to secure your data, enable private communications, and give you full autonomy over your online identity and interactions. Beyond these foundational features, Homebase is open-source and functions as an open platform, inviting developers to contribute and extend its capabilities. We've kickstarted this ecosystem with our own applications — Chat, Photos, and Feed — each designed to enhance your online experience. The App API enables developers to create fully independent applications that leverage Homebase for storage, sharing, commmunication and security, ensuring that innovation on the platform is limited only by imagination.

We believe in a decentralized internet — a place where everyone can host their online home on their terms, whether on a personal server or through a shared domain with family. Homebase is not just a tool; it's a movement towards a more open, free, and secure internet, crafted with our community's input and designed to be accessible across all your devices.

An identity is a combination of your domain name, your secure certificate, and the decentralized Homebase protocol that allows you to communicate peer-to-peer with other identities.

Your identity is the anchor of your secure online presence, and your gateway to the decentralized Homebase network. All in your control and ownership.

"Homebase" generally signifies a safe haven, like the invulnerable starting point in video games or the scoring destination in baseball. In the context of our platform, Homebase is your digital safe haven where you have full control over all aspects of your online life. It's your go-to online destination, designed to offer complete ownership and security.

The internet was envisaged by its pioneers, like Tim Berners-Lee, as an open, decentralized network, promoting the free flow of information and transcending borders. It was imagined as a tool for democracy, a place where knowledge and ideas could be shared freely.

Unfortunately, this initial vision has been distorted. Today's internet is often highly centralized, controlled, and monetized. It has, in some aspects, morphed into something akin to the dystopian reality painted in George Orwell's 1984 - a tool for mass surveillance and control.

We at Homebase firmly believe that it is a human right to hold opinions without interference, to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers, and to be protected from arbitrary interference with your privacy. This aligns with the principles of Articles 19 and 12 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights respectively.

We believe in the original spirit of the internet, your human rights to privacy, freedom of speech, and access to information. These aren't just lofty ideals; they're coded into our infrastructure. By building a platform that's decentralized and user-controlled, we're taking strides to wrestle the internet back from the brink of a centralized, controlled reality and restore it to what it was always meant to be - a tool for human connection, knowledge, and empowerment.

So, the question perhaps isn't why protecting human rights online is so important; it's how we could allow the internet to be anything less than a guardian of those rights. Together, we can make the internet a safer, more democratic and diverse place, where the sovereign individual can truly flourish.

Let's first understand the broader societal implications of privacy and then consider privacy from the perspective of the individual.

• Information is Power: In our digital age, data is power. While you might feel you have "nothing to hide," it's crucial to realize that when a small group of entities possess exhaustive knowledge about all citizens, it creates an imbalance of power. This can lead to manipulation and predictability of public sentiment and behavior, which in turn can undermine democratic processes such as fair elections.
• Privacy as a Human Right: Privacy is a human right recognized by the United Nations. As stated in Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence..." This isn't merely about personal secrets; it's about the freedom to express ideas, form opinions, and engage in activities without unwarranted intrusion. This freedom is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.
• Freedom from Censorship: Privacy and freedom from censorship are intrinsically linked. Breaches of privacy often lead to surveillance and censorship, which leads to repression, can suppress dissent and discourage free expression. By joining Homebase, you help safeguard the principles of democracy and freedom of speech. Homebase provides a platform where voices cannot be easily stifled, promoting open and diverse dialogues.
• Control over Your Data: Your personal data is a valuable commodity. It's essential that you retain control over what you share and with whom. Homebase empowers you with autonomy and dignity in your digital interactions.

In essence, joining Homebase is about more than protecting your own privacy. It's about standing for a platform that respects human rights, supports freedom of expression, upholds democracy, combats censorship, and empowers individuals with control over their personal data. By caring about privacy, you contribute to a free, open, and democratic society.

That's a fantastic question! On the surface, Homebase might seem similar to platforms like Facebook or Instagram because it's a space where you can also share and interact with others. But that's where the similarities end. Here's why:

• More Than a Social Network: Homebase is a comprehensive digital platform offering a myriad of features beyond social networking. It serves as your personal homepage, blog, secure cloud storage, chat application, photo library, "link tree", authentication platform, and an open app platform. It's like having your personal corner on the Internet, a safe haven tailored to your needs.
• User Control and Privacy: On Homebase, you have complete control over your personal data. Your data is your business, not ours. Unlike mainstream platforms, we don't analyze your messages or pictures for advertising or any other purposes. Your data is stored securely and privately, accessible only by you. Non-public posts are zero-knowledge encrypted.
• Content Moderation: You are in complete control of the content you see on Homebase. You choose who to follow and consequently, whose content you wish to see. If there's content that you don't appreciate, you can simply unfollow the person. On Homebase, your feed is curated by you and you alone.
• Decentralization: Homebase operates on a decentralized system. This means there isn't a single point of control or failure. You are not just a user on Homebase, you're a part of it, holding an equal share of control and influence over the network.
• Your Unique Identity: Your identity on Homebase is tied to your own unique domain name and certificate, which ensures maximum security and truly represents you. It's like having your own home on the web, not just a page on someone else's platform.
• Open Source: Homebase is an open-source project. The code that makes up Homebase is available for everyone to see, use, modify, and distribute. This fosters innovation, transparency, and trust.

We created Homebase with the vision of making the internet a better place - a place where your privacy is a priority, your data is secure, and you have complete control over your online presence.

We get it - there are already numerous social platforms out there. However, Homebase stands apart in several significant ways:

• A Personal Safe Haven: Homebase isn't just another fleeting platform. It's your personal homepage, your blogging platform, your secure personal cloud storage, and your authentication platform - all rolled into one. It's a quiet, relevant space that focuses on your individual needs and desires and remains stable and secure over time.
• Security and Privacy: We prioritize your privacy and security above everything else. With your unique domain name and certificate, you're not just a user - you're an integral part of the network. And in the future, your apps will save your personal data on your personal Homebase platform, ensuring the highest level of security and privacy.
• A Complementary Network: Homebase isn't a replacement for your current networks. Think of Homebase as a complementary addition to your digital life, like a personal online base where you control what happens. You can still enjoy the bustling world of other platforms, while Homebase serves as a more personal and secure space.
• Quality over Quantity: Homebase focuses on quality over quantity. You control the content you see, ensuring a more meaningful and engaging experience.

So, joining Homebase is about making a choice for a safer, more personal, and empowering online experience. It's also about reclaiming the Internet. We invite you to be a part of this journey.

One of the exciting features of Homebase is that each app can create its own encrypted drive within your Homebase space. This allows the apps you use to securely store and manage data, while ensuring complete privacy.

Each app only has access to the proper drives and the decryption keys needed to read the data it has stored. This means an app cannot access or read data from other drives it doesn't have access to. It's like each app has its own secure storage locker within your Homebase identity.

Currently, the chat and photos apps that are part of Homebase utilize this secure storage system. As Homebase is an open platform, we anticipate and encourage more developers to build and integrate their apps with Homebase. This will not only enhance the functionality and versatility of the Homebase platform, but also further secure your personal data within your unique Homebase identity.

When you think about online services like Facebook, WhatsApp, or Google, they are examples of centralized systems. This means that all decisions, data, and control flow through a single point - their respective companies. They have one central authority which stores, controls, and manages all the data.

Now, imagine a different setup. Instead of one boss or a main office that controls everything, power and control are spread out among all participants. This is a decentralized system. It's like a team game where every player has an equal say, and there isn't one player who can control or dominate the game.

In the digital world, a decentralized system means data and control are distributed across many different computers or servers, instead of being held in one central place. This makes the system tougher and more resilient. Even if one part has a problem, the others can keep the game running. It's also more democratic because everyone in the network can participate and contribute, not just a select few.

Homebase is an example of this decentralized approach. We're designed to empower you, the individual, by avoiding the pitfalls of single authority control. With Homebase, we're all about returning power to the people, where it truly belongs!

To understand the importance of decentralization, let's first consider an imaginary future Internet scenario:

In a future centralized online world, only a handful of entities control the Internet. They control the infrastructure, monitor your every move, interpret the intent of your every message, amplify the voices of the privileged, and suppress and silence the dissenters. Their power allows them to mold your perception of reality by orchestrating the information we all see. Thought laws are enacted, permitting the arrest of 'troublesome' citizens - the nonconformists, the dissidents - for possessing digital material that could be deemed as intent to share potentially emotionally harmful opinions. Their power is facilitated by an omnipresent artificial intelligence censorship entity, a titan capable of real-time censorship, amplification, alerting authorities when dissenting groups gain traction, and identifying individuals who are potential thought-crime culprits.

This unsettling vision of a dystopian future is sadly closer to today's reality than many of us want to admit.

Now imagine if we could restructure this power dynamic. What if we could distribute the power so broadly and evenly that no single entity could dominate? This is the essence of decentralization.

The decentralization ethos is captured well by the famous Jimi Hendrix quote, 'When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world shall know peace.' In the context of the Internet, love of power refers to the desire for control and dominance that is inherent in a centralized system. On the other hand, the power of love refers to a collective approach where every individual has an equal say and importance.

Decentralization is about celebrating the sovereign human being and about creating a digital world where cooperation and mutual respect take precedence over control, surveillance, and manipulation.

In a nutshell, peer-to-peer (P2P) means direct communication or exchange between two parties, without the need for a centralized intermediary. Imagine having a conversation with a friend in a park - just the two of you, no middleman involved. That's the essence of P2P, but in the digital world.

Many messaging apps you know, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal, claim to use "end-to-end encryption," which in principle sounds like P2P - your messages should go directly from you to your friend, right? Well, it's not that straightforward. Despite their claims, these apps are still centralized. This means that your messages do take a detour via their servers, and even though they're encrypted, the companies can hold the keys to those encrypted messages. In other words, they could potentially access the content of your messages if they wanted to.

Homebase's peer-to-peer approach is different. When we say P2P, we truly mean it. Your messages go directly from you to your friend, no detours, no decryption in the middle. It's as private as whispering into your friend's ear. We firmly believe that protecting your privacy is not only crucial for digital security, but it is also a fundamental human right. That's how online communication should be!

Every Homebase identity comes equipped with a unique digital key (ECC-384) that can be used to securely sign documents. This signature can be used for a variety of purposes like endorsing legal documents, financial transactions, votes, or building a network trust.

Your secret key is of course protected with zero-knowledge encryption. On the other hand, your public key is freely available for anyone to use for verification purposes. This key can be retrieved via a unique URL directly associated with your identity or checked through Homebase's Key Chain for additional security and historical verification.

Homebase's Key Chain represents a novel form of blockchain technology. It records registered pairs of { identity, public key }, which allows third parties to independently verify the public keys of identities, even those used historically. This ensures that even if an identity ceases to exist, you can still validate a document they signed using the blockchain.

Each entry in the chain is authenticated with a digital signature from the identity being added. This characteristic ensures the immutability of Homebase's Key Chain: any attempt to tamper with a link in the chain would necessitate the practically infeasible task of obtaining a re-issued digital signature from the original identity, as well as all identities added in subsequent links.

As such, Homebase's Key Chain provides a robust, unbreakable method for validating digital signatures and preserving the sovereignty of each user's online identity. It enhances trust and security within the network, acting as an unwavering pillar of reliability.

Looking towards the future, Homebase's Key Chain paves the way for a more secure and reliable digital environment. It serves as an immutable record, verifying online identities and digital signatures even as the internet continues to evolve. This cutting-edge technology heralds a new era of digital trust, helping to shape a future where digital signatures can be trusted implicitly, thereby fostering greater confidence and authenticity in our online interactions.

Zero-knowledge encryption is like having a super-secure digital lockbox for your personal information, and only you hold the key. When your data is stored using zero-knowledge principles, it means only you (the owner of the data) have the keys to unlock and access it.

Imagine writing in your private diary and locking it away securely. Even if that diary was stored in a public library, nobody could open it because you're the only one with the key. That's how your data works on Homebase. Although it resides on our platform, we can't peek inside. We don't hold the keys - you do.

Now, compare this with services from the big tech companies like Google or Facebook. When you use their platforms, it's kind of like handing over your unlocked diary. They have full access to your data, and they can read, analyze, and use it as they please.

In contrast, Homebase's use of zero-knowledge encryption puts you firmly in control. You own your data, and only you can decide who sees it. We see this as an essential part of your human rights - your right to privacy and the safeguarding of your personal information.

And here's the kicker - even if someone were to physically steal the server holding your data, they still couldn't access it. The server doesn't store your keys, and any decryption happens momentarily in memory. In other words, your data is super secure, and only you have the power to unlock it. We believe this is the way it should be - because it's your data, and your rights should always be respected.

Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) is a concept that empowers individuals or organizations to have exclusive ownership and control over their digital and analog identities. Instead of relying on a centralized registry, SSI allows your identity to be independently verified by others.

At Homebase, we're taking the principles of SSI and pushing them even further. Our Homebase identities not only give you control over your identity, they also allow you to control how and when your personal data is shared. You become the sole authority over your personal information - not Google, not Facebook, just you. This is achieved through the YouAuth protocol, where your Homebase identity serves as your universal login.

But there's more to it. With Homebase, you can prove your identity or certain aspects of it, like your name and address, without compromising your privacy. Your identity proof is stored in a cryptographically secure way and can be shared when and how you want. This identity proof is robust and verifiable, allowing others to trust your identity while you maintain control.

By taking SSI to the next level, we're aiming for an Internet where you are the sovereign owner of your identity and your data. It's about returning power to the individual and cultivating an online environment that respects user autonomy, privacy, and control. It's not just about personal security - it's about creating an Internet that's structured around individual freedom and sovereignty.

Using domain names as personal identities is a unique approach that brings several benefits.

1. Universality: Domain names are a universal standard on the internet, recognized and accessible globally. When your identity is tied to a domain name, it's like having a digital home address that anyone around the world can find and visit. It might be the only thing you'll ever need to put on your business card.
2. Ownership: Having a domain name means you truly own your online identity. Unlike usernames on social media platforms, which you essentially 'borrow' from the platform and can be taken away from you, a domain name is something you can own outright. It's your unique identifier that no one else can use, and it stays with you as long as you want it.
3. Flexibility and Control: With your identity tied to a domain name, you have full control over what you want to share on your 'safe haven' on the web. You can build your digital home however you like, with whatever details you want to show the world.
4. Portability: Your domain name, and thus your online identity, is portable. You're not tied to a single platform. You can move your 'home' to different platforms or hosts as you wish.
5. Privacy and Security: Coupled with zero-knowledge encryption and certification, using domain names as identities on Homebase means that you control who can access the information tied to your online identity. It's like having a home with doors and windows that only you can open, and it's more secure than traditional online systems, even those used by banks.
6. Accessibility: While many may choose to purchase their own domain, it's not a requirement. Families might share a common domain (e.g. john.doe.com, mary.doe.com). You can also get free third and fourth level domains making domain-based identities free to anyone not interested buying their own unique domain name.

At Homebase, we believe that everyone deserves their unique and secure safe haven on the web - a digital home that you can truly call your own. And we think domain names, paired with Homebase's secure certification, are the best way to make this happen.

You know when you visit a new website and it gives you the option to 'Sign in with Google' or 'Sign in with Facebook'? That's an example of an authentication protocol, specifically OAuth, that lets you use a single account (like your Google or Facebook account) to sign in to multiple platforms.

Now, imagine that instead of relying on Google or Facebook, you could sign in with your own identity that only you control. That's the idea behind the YouAuth protocol (and another reason why domain names are so clever).

YouAuth lets you be your own authentication server. Your Homebase identity (aka your domain name) serves as your universal login, eventually allowing you to access various platforms without needing to rely on third-party providers. This strengthens your online security and ensures that your personal data stays under your control. It's a step further towards an internet where each individual has full control over their data and privacy.

We understand the concerns that arise with privacy-focused platforms. However, it's crucial to point out that while Homebase provides privacy, it is not an ideal system for illegal activities, and here's why:

• Highly Identifiable: Each Homebase user is tied to a personal domain name, making the user and their associated server highly identifiable. If someone were to use Homebase for illegal activities, they would be making a remarkably poor choice, as all their data and communication would be associated with their public domain name. Unlike dark-web platforms, where identities are intentionally masked in an attempt to evade tracing and thus shield the perpetrators from prosecution, Homebase&aopos;s structure offers no such possibility of anonymity.
• Legality: Homebase is designed to empower individuals with control over their data and to provide a safe, secure online space for genuine social interactions. It doesn&aopos;t support or condone illegal activities in any form.
• Respect for Human Rights: While Homebase believes in the fundamental human right to privacy, it doesn&aopos;t facilitate or ignore malicious use of the platform. We hold that most people are good, and the benefits of a privacy-focused, decentralized system significantly outweigh the potential misuse.
• User Moderation: Homebase puts you in control. You decide what you see and who you interact with. If you encounter unacceptable content or users, you can disengage or unfollow.

In conclusion, Homebase aims to transform the internet into a more secure and private space for individuals, promoting responsible and ethical usage in the process.