Hi List,
I wonder if there are any considerations in designing an XEP (draft)
allowing the
discovery of local users (i.e. in the same subnet by broadcast)?
There is a application for the iPod/iPhone called iFobs searching for
other iFobsusers on
the local network and allows chatting with them.
The reason I propose creating such a draft is that the iFobs
application is not open
source and the protocol specification is not published by
icloseby.com, the creator of
the application. This renders the application not usable on
Linux-Laptops and other
mobile devices like the upcoming OpenMoko (and other smart phones, of
course!).
Using XMPP would allow using all the featurs of Jabber/XMPP for local
network purposes at
cafes, lectures and so on.
One major problem would be verifying the identity of another party
while there is no
connection to the internet (=> the servers are not reachable).
One solution would be to utilize no verification of local users at
all, identifying all
local users by something like "[EMAIL PROTECTED]", but
allowing to advertise a
valid JID so user can try to contact each other after leaving their
wireless network.
If a the internet can be reached verifiying local users should quite
easy possible by
advetising valid JIDs and then using the servers to communicate.
In cases where both users use GnuPG to sign their messages and two
users already know
each other cached keys can also be used to verify the identity of local users.
Well, what do you think of this proposal?
Greetings, Sebastian
--
Sebastian M.
Student of Computer Science at the University of Kaiserslautern.
