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What Nostr Did

Marc Leon

• 5 min read
What Nostr Did

I'm studying for the Comp Tia Security Plus exam because my experience using applied cryptography has already taught me much of the foundational knowledge in the exam. My area of expertise is included in the" Blockchain Technology – CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 – 1.4" section. This has also given me hands-on experience in:

  • Public Key Infrastructure
  • Encrypting Data
  • Key Exchange
  • Encryption Technologies
  • Obfuscation
  • Hashing and Digital Signatures
  • -Certificates

cyber picture

I suspect I know more, but I can't say for sure because that's all I've covered in my exam prep so far, but I would never say I know everything about cyber security. For the record, I have studied bitcoin for over a decade now, but I wouldn't say I know everything about that either. I think it is fair to say that I have an above-average understanding of the bitcoin protocol, however. It's just that learning about this stuff turns my crank so to speak. I hyper-focus on this stuff, but there is a relatively new protocol I have spent much of my free time studying over the last couple of years. This is an emerging technology so it's difficult to explain, but I will attempt to do my best.

What Is Nostr?

Nostr is a new Internet communications protocol, like https or SMTP. Nostr has no blockchain so you won't see anything about it on the CompTIA Security +SY0-701 test.

According to nostr.com nostr is "a better internet is possible: decentralize Twitter, eBay, IoT and other stuff." That's a big, bold, brazen, and brave statement. They claim a better Internet is possible. "They" are people who build tools to make bitcoin payments as fast as Lightning. The Lighting Network is also interesting, but that's a story for another day. If you are interested iin learning more, this podcast with Jack Dorsey, Fiatjaf William Casarin. is a great place to begin. A quick and dirty explanation is that nostr is like an IRC chatroom with two main differences:

  1. Messages (or notes) are sent and received on websites and phone applications instead of clients like mIRC.

Each note is signed by a digital signature in a fashion more similar to PGP I learned about in my Google IT Technician Certificate than the hashcash style of mining Satoshi Nakamoto implemented into bitcoin. This math creates a public key such as npub1marc26z8nh3xkj5rcx7ufkatvx6ueqhp5vfw9v5teq26z254renshtf3g0 and a private key such as nsec1supersecretstuff... In other words, nostr is a digital identity system with notes and other stuff transmitted by relay, not a "blockchain.

How can this make a better Internet possible? That's for you to decide, but one thing to consider is that this allows people to take ownership of their data. You don't need to build an online presents on twenty-one different platforms. This is not a typo. I mean "presents," as in the gift of your data everyone gives to social media platforms. Don't get me wrong. The data is still there to use, but the user chooses the algorithm. It's good to be the king of your own data because any information can and will be used against you. This is not paranoia. If you spend less time watching ads, you'll spend less money. Otherwise, free as in no fee, platforms would have no revenue.

Nostr makes it so you don't need a social media company to talk to your friends online. You can run your own client like https://nostr.marcleon.work/npub1marc26z8nh3xkj5rcx7ufkatvx6ueqhp5vfw9v5teq26z254renshtf3g0, but if my website goes the way of pets.com I won't lose millions of dollars. I'm running this on a Start9(not a paid ad). But if my server bricks, I won't lose my data because I can also retrieve it on:

primal}

https://coracle.social/people/nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctcqyr050ptgg7w7y662s0qmm3xm4dsmtnyzux339c4j30yptgf2j50xwr6uhrq

For the record, you don't need to calculate your keys on pencil and paper. The easiest way to do it is to use https://primal.net on the App store, Android, or the Web. Primal will also give you a default bitcoin lightning wallet as long as you provide your phone number. They use Strike as a back end. If you don't like bitcoin for some reason, you can use a lightning wallet from Strike(not a paid ad). The Strike app will allow you to turn your zaps into your local fiat currency so long as it is above one cent in value. If someone sends you less than a cent it will stay bitcoin, but everything else can get instantly converted to money you can buy a gift card within seconds or send to your legacy bank in days. This is not financial advice. It is a new way of sending value over the Internet. You can also use tools like nostr wallet connect and [alby hub(https://albyhub.com/)(not a paid ad) to run your own lightning node in the cloud or on your own hardware. The lightning network is not as difficult as it was in the early days. It has come a long way.

Lyn Alden, says this creates a global payment address book. Say we go out to lunch and you pay the bill. I can search for your name and send you the money with a click of a button. I don't need to know how many pizzas you paid for on Venmo or what the Zelle your PayPal username is. I can just send you twenty bucks or whatever. I don't need to know your preferred payment. Like the honey badger, I don't care.

nostree

Use free and open source video calling
https://hivetalk.org

A large list of possibilities are listed on the github repository for https://nostr.net.

https://github.com/aljazceru/awesome-nostr

There are too many to name and I should study for that Comp Tia security plus test again.

If you enjoyed this article, please hit that zap button that looks like a purple lightning bolt in the link down below.

https://nostree.me/npub1marc26z8nh3xkj5rcx7ufkatvx6ueqhp5vfw9v5teq26z254renshtf3g0
[861,339(https://timechaincalendar.com/en/block/861339)

As Seen On TOR:
http://p66dxywd2xpyyrdfxwilqcxmchmfw2ixmn2vm74q3atf22du7qmkihyd.onion/what-nostr-did/

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