image support

[MacroUniverse]

Hi, will image be supported in hack.chat?

[marzavec]

Hi! There are two or three routes that can be taken when it comes to having images displayed in the client.

The first would be the more typical route of providing ui elements to allow a user to directly send an image to everyone in the channel. This would mean that the media is uploaded and stored by the server running the hack.chat instance. Not only does this option increase code complexity and server resource usage, it also places a new legal liability on the owner of the server. I cannot get behind this route at all.

The second is to allow the client to load and display 3rd party hosted images. This solves the previous options issues with resources and liability. However, it creates an issue with privacy. When the client requests the image, the user's IP would be exposed- there are plenty of public IP grabbers that provide image support. A way to combat this may be to have the server proxy the image, but that re-introduces the resource and liability issues. Another way would be to alert the user to this privacy issue, but allow them to take on the risk- which would be a lazy simple way to support images. This is still not ideal though.

The last option is essentially a hybrid of the first two; provide the ui elements to upload an image, but have the client convert the image into a data url, transmit that and allow the receiving ends to display it. This solves the privacy and liability issues, but uses greater server resources (compared to the typical setup of option one).

The TLDR is that this feature increases resource usage and risk. Realistically the best option would be to shunt resources to a 3rd party image host and alert the user to privacy risks.

[MacroUniverse]

About the privacy concern of sending image without 3rd party service, how is this different from sending text? Image is just a longer string of data. Could you do something like converting the image to text and send it then convert back to image on the other side?

…

------------------ Original ------------------ From: marzavec ***@***.***> Date: Mon, Aug 2, 2021 9:03 AM To: hack-chat/main ***@***.***> Cc: MacroUniverse ***@***.***>, Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [hack-chat/main] image support (#140) Hi! There are two or three routes that can be taken when it comes to having images displayed in the client. The first would be the more typical route of providing ui elements to allow a user to directly send an image to everyone in the channel. This would mean that the media is uploaded and stored by the server running the hack.chat instance. Not only does this option increase code complexity and server resource usage, it also places a new legal liability on the owner of the server. I cannot get behind this route at all. The second is to allow the client to load and display 3rd party hosted images. This solves the previous options issues with resources and liability. However, it creates an issue with privacy. When the client requests the image, the user's IP would be exposed- there are plenty of public IP grabbers that provide image support. A way to combat this may be to have the server proxy the image, but that re-introduces the resource and liability issues. Another way would be to alert the user to this privacy issue, but allow them to take on the risk- which would be a lazy simple way to support images. This is still not ideal though. The last option is essentially a hybrid of the first two; provide the ui elements to upload an image, but have the client convert the image into a data url, transmit that and allow the receiving ends to display it. This solves the privacy and liability issues, but uses greater server resources (compared to the typical setup of option one). The TLDR is that this feature increases resource usage and risk. Realistically the best option would be to shunt resources to a 3rd party image host and alert the user to privacy risks. — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.

[marzavec]

See option 3.

[MacroUniverse]

Sorry about not reading carefully, I think option 3 is the best for the central goal of this web app. IMHO this web app's value is all about privacy and security.

…

------------------ Original ------------------ From: marzavec ***@***.***> Date: Tue, Aug 3, 2021 8:08 AM To: hack-chat/main ***@***.***> Cc: MacroUniverse ***@***.***>, Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [hack-chat/main] image support (#140) See option 3. — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.

[stcee]

IPFS could be used for option 3

[0x24a]

i think hc should add more imghost whitelists, 99% imghost cannot be used in china :(

[marzavec]

We can do that. Do you know of any Chinese image host that respects privacy and has ethical standards? Or, perhaps easier, one that is openly available to China?

[0x24a]

i.loli.net,s2.loli.net,s1.ax1x.com,s2.ax1x.com,z3.ax1x.com,s4.ax1x.com,i.postimg.cc

sm.ms imagehost,"路过图床",postimages
I think these imagehosts are great :D

[0x24a]

They all do not require an account and very respect privacy

[VVhitehead]

@marzavec

Or, perhaps easier, one that is openly available to China?

someone actually test this like fr fr, but I would recommend adding: dump.li. (has file expiry options, including 'never' and has Tor and I2P mirrors.