The Chat App that Can't Go Down (Holepunch + Keet Interview)

Techlore Talks brings you in-depth conversations with the experts at the forefront of digital rights, privacy and security.

Peer-to-peer networks have no servers—just devices talking directly to each other. Henry interviewed Mathias Buus Madsen, CEO of Holepunch, about how BitTorrent handled 40 million users without servers, why their messenger Keet can't go down even when usage spikes, their new P2P password manager, and how P2P apps are more energy efficient than data centers.

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Episode Timestamps

0:00:00 INTRO
00:01:25 WHAT IS PEER-TO-PEER (P2P)?
00:03:16 BENEFITS OF P2P
00:05:38 GETTING STARTED IN P2P
00:08:43 NEGATIVE P2P ASSOCIATIONS
00:14:13 P2P CENSORSHIP RESISTANCE
00:17:14 P2P SAFETY
00:21:29 KEET (P2P MESSENGER)
00:26:21 OPEN SOURCE?
00:27:12 BEING SERVERLESS
00:31:04 OPEN SOURCE VS. CLOSED SOURCE
00:34:05 ARE UPDATES P2P?
00:34:33 IS THERE AN APK?
00:35:37 BACKGROUND SYNC
00:39:27 WHAT ELSE DOES HOLEPUNCH WORK ON?
00:42:04 MORE INFO ON THE STACK
00:45:00 FUNDING + TETHER
00:48:09 P2P PASSWORD MANAGER?
00:54:48 AUDITS
00:55:57 AVAILABLE ON LINUX?
00:58:33 CENTRALIZED/HYBRID P2P?
01:01:49 P2P DOWNSIDES?
01:05:01 APPLE FINDMY NETWORK
01:07:16 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
01:11:48 SERVICE DOWNTIME
01:12:52 HOW TO FOLLOW
01:13:59 OUTRO