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The secure messaging protocol.

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Matrix Metadata Problem: the server sees everything except your messages (dfrws.org)

submitted 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) by verifytheposter@leminal.space to c/matrix@programming.dev

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Matrix Metadata Problem: the server sees everything except your messages

People pick Matrix because of end-to-end encryption. But E2EE only protects message content — everything around it is plaintext.

The server sees:

Your ID, IP, client type and version, device you use
Your presence, typing status, read receipts
Which rooms you join and when you join/leave
Who else is in those rooms → your entire social graph
Room names, topics, avatars (all plaintext state)
For every message: who sent it, which room, a millisecond timestamp, type, size

And federation copies all of that to every other server whose users are in the room. Your "social footprint" isn't one copy — it's as many as there are servers.

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[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

There are plenty of valid criticisms of the matrix protocol but people keep stumbling over their own feet when trying to make a hit piece like this simply because they don't know what they're talking about.

If you don't want any server to see anything about you then don't use other people's servers and use P2P messaging instead.

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 2 points 15 hours ago

If you don't want any server to see anything about you then don't use other people's servers and use P2P messaging instead.

tbh matrix could do more, but hopefully we will get to it sometime. the devs have shown interest in figuring that out.