What is Nostra?

Nostr is a simple communications protocol capable of cementing the construction of decentralized social networks, without censorship and with a high level of privacy, without involving a complex and expensive task, opening the doors for the generation of social networks open to all.

As a social media user, the idea of privacy and security has always been a concern. With the recent data breaches and scandals that have plagued traditional social networks, it is clear that privacy and security are not guaranteed. However, with the arrival of decentralized social networks, these concerns can disappear and, a perfect example of this, we can see it in Nostr.

Nostr, identifies as a protocol designed to create a decentralized social network that promises privacy, security and much more. All this, built on a network of relay nodes capable of sending and receiving information between them using a P2P protocol, supported on asymmetric cryptography and that does not use blockchain technology for its operation, making it easy to deploy, develop and integrate with other technologies.

With all these features, Nostr has quickly become one of the fastest growing free software projects dedicated to social networks in recent years. One that is also gaining great traction in the crypto ecosystem, due to the ideological and technological closeness after its construction.

Origin of Nostra

The name Nostr means "Notes and other things transmitted by relays", a name that fits perfectly with the description of this protocol, its purpose and operation. After all, Nostr is precisely the protocol that is responsible for taking the message you write and taking it to the different relay nodes that are part of the network, and from which users can take the message, read it, and interact with you.

The project started its build with the work of its creator, GitHub user, @fiatjaf. It was he who initially released the initial code and the first specification of this protocol, showing the potential of this new technology.

Privacy and security: Nostr's promises for social networks

Social networks have become a vital part of our daily lives, connecting us with friends and family, and allowing us to share our thoughts and experiences. However, this comes with the constant threat of data breaches and privacy breaches. It is known that traditional social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram collect and sell user data, endangering your privacy. As a result, the need for a social network that guarantees privacy and security has arisen.

Nostr differs from traditional social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in several ways. First of all, Nostr is decentralized, which means that there is no central authority controlling the network. This eliminates the risk of data leakage and privacy breaches that are common in traditional social networks.

In addition, Nostr offers end-to-end encryption, which means that all communication is encrypted, ensuring that only the recipient can read the message. This is not the case with traditional social networks, where user data is often collected and sold to third-party companies.

All this makes it very clear that; the future of social media is decentralized and Nostr is leading the way. Not only does Nostr offer greater privacy and security than traditional social networks, especially considering the impact that recent data breaches and scandals have had on traditional social networks and the digital and real lives of their users. If not, in turn, Nostr offers a solution to fight against the increasing censorship that is exercised in these spaces.

How does the Nostr protocol work?

Nostr works using cryptographic keys and digital signatures so that the messages are inviolable and their integrity remains intact. Thus, Nostr uses two types of software: the client and the relay (relay).

The first one, the client, is used to send events. That is, it is the software that users use to connect to the network and through it they are able to have a graphical interface that allows them to manage their account. This software is also in charge of automating the entire process of using cryptography and other options offered to the user (eg the ability to have a cryptocurrency wallet associated with their Nostr account, among other options).

For its part, the second software is the relay or relay. This is in charge of receive events or messages from people connected to the network and make them reach those who are interested in them. Due to their construction, the relays receive and send the messages they receive to other relays, allowing these messages to reach more and more people. In this way, an enormous capacity to resist censorship is offered, since if there may well be a relay censoring some content or message, this message can be replicated in several relays at the same time and with it the chances of it reaching we are maintained.

To maintain security and the certainty that the messages are from who they say they are, Nostr makes use of asymmetric cryptography. Actually, each Nostr account has two keys:

• A public one that we can share with the rest of the people within the Nostr network, and that would become our "username" or "username" within the network
• Another private, which is the one we must protect at all costs.

The public key is used so that those who wish to receive our messages can keep track of them and verify that they are indeed authentic messages made by us. This verification process is completely secure and cryptographic, in fact, it is basically the same process that is used to verify operations carried out with cryptocurrencies or with systems such as PGP.

The public key not only allows messages to be tracked and verified, but also allows us to write a message and that it is only readable by the person who created said key. For this, we use the public key to encrypt the message and the recipient using the private key can decrypt it. Best of all, this crypto-intensive process is not computationally expensive. At least, not at levels like those we see in cryptocurrency mining and the process is executed entirely by the clients, so the relays are only in charge of uniting all the parts of the network and sending them the messages they expect.

Pros and cons of Nostr

Of course, the use of Nostr offers us several pros and cons, which we will present here:

1. There is no ban. No one can ban you at Nostr, which offers the freedom to express yourself without the fear that your ideas will lead to the closure of your account. Of course, you must be clear that your content can be moderated. For example, if you generate violent content and the relays you use prohibit this, they may avoid retransmitting your content. This is possible because your content has a cryptographic signature and it is enough to moderate that signature to avoid retransmission of the content. However, this is not a ban because you can change the relay or choose several of them that do accept your content and continue reaching your audience or those who may be interested in your message.
2. Accounts can be easily "migrated". Nostr allows you to connect your account and your clients' software to several relays, thus allowing you to reach various communities that may be registered in those relays. To achieve this, you just have to add the new relay to the list of your client's relays and with that you will already be within that community.
3. Uncensored. Relays can charge to allow you to post, which means that even if all the free relays have banned you from posting, you can always pay to post somewhere.
4. Reduced advertising. Nostr is a network that is not intended to be an exploitation space for advertising. Due to this, the publicity that we can find is reduced only to that which the clients can introduce in their applications.
5. Spam/bot resistant. Many relays require additional information when they believe a message is spam. If the user cannot provide the additional information, the message will not be sent to the repeater, keeping the platform free of spam. There are also no ads or annoying monetization techniques.

However, not everything is positive and among its cons we can find:

1. At the moment, it is not possible to see how many followers you have on Nostr. You can get a general idea through an application process, but it will never be like Instagram or Twitter, where you know exactly how many people are receiving your broadcasts.
2. It is difficult to get followers. To join, you need to find a person's (or company's) public key so you can enter it and receive their broadcasts. You usually have to ask for it or find it on a website, as there isn't a "people you might know" feature like on other social media platforms.

How to create an account and use Nostr?

The process to create an account and use Nostr is very simple to carry out, and in fact, we can do it by following these simple steps:

First, choose a client for Nostr that meets your needs. Clients like Iris (Web), Amethyst (Android), Damus (iOS) and Gossip (Desktop – Windows and GNU/Linux). In this case, we will choose Iris, since being web-based you can easily replicate this process from any device.

At this point, you need to generate your name and this will begin the process of generating a private/public key pair for your Nostr client. Once this process, which is transparent to you, is over, you will be able to choose some users of interest that you may want to follow.

Now you can choose the users that interest you and in this way you will start to follow them within Nostr.

As you can see, Iris is an excellent option to get started with Nostr, especially if you are interested in having a simple approach to this technology, and at the same time, enjoying Options very similar to those you can see on networks like Twitter or Mastodon.

In any case, if you want to store the public and private key of this account, to use it in other Nostr clients, you can simply go to the Configuration option, and there you will see the data of your keys.

As always, be careful with your private key, remember that it is the only way to access your Nostr account, if you lose it, no one will be able to recover your account.