AT Protocol launches Spaces alpha: private data with access control, not encryption
ATProto spaces: A new extension to ATProto that enables non-public data
The AT Protocol (atproto) has released an alpha of Spaces, a new primitive for storing and syncing non-public data. Spaces act as miniature atproto networks gated by a space authority, enabling settings, private bookmarks, gated communities, and subscription-only apps while preserving portability and interoperability. The alpha includes SDKs, a hosted PDS, and a sample app. Crucially, Spaces provide access control, not confidentiality—data is unencrypted. The protocol is designed for shared social contexts, with lightweight sync and no relay.
Spaces give you access control not confidentiality.
- jodosha
> It’s important to remember that spaces give you access control not confidentiality. The data in a space is readable by any user or application with access to that space, it’s not encrypted.
- notnullorvoid
It seems like at every turn the word private is avoided and replaced with "non-public".
I understand that the system probably is sound, the data just isn't encrypted, which I wouldn't necessarily expect. Maybe it's completely clear for users familiar with AtProto, but for others it needs to be clearer on some things:
- Where exactly is the data is stored
- Who is the "space authority" and why should they be trusted
- Strategies where you can manually encrypt/decrypt the data put in spaces
And avoid sketchy sounding terms like "non-public".
- arikrahman
Let's go, tangled.sh is about to have private repos
- isodev
It's kind of shocking that nowhere in the discussions we see references to the IDSA (https://internationaldataspaces.org/). Most of ATproto seems to be based on data space concepts with a strange level of "we don't like RDF" layer applied on top.
I hope the growing mess of lexicons would eventually trigger them to self correct and look more into reusing (and encouraging) existing ontologies (schema.org or any number of others).
- pocksuppet
So is this now just, like, a server?