this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023
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Would it be possible for me to make comments to other instances etc?

Solved: I can't, it would only work with a public domain.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 11 months ago (2 children)

No, ActivityPub is a push protocol. Other instances send data to your instance via HTTPS and only HTTPS. So you need at minimum a public domain and web server with TLS enabled.

Some people use Cloudflare tunnels to avoid opening ports or just get a cheap VPS to forward the traffic home without exposing the home IP.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You do realize all this is easily done with a reverse proxy + DuckDNS?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Wouldn't you need a publically available IP? DuckDNS is only for dynamic IP's that is public, yes?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Duckdns is pretty much a service that offers free domain names.. that could point to any public IP. (I have seen setups where local IPs are used just for HTTPS). So its good for instances as HTTPS can be achieved without buying domain name.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Works with anything that can open ports. DuckDNS works by pinging their service from anywhere to update the target IP for the subdomain.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Doesn't work if you are on CGNAT

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

See: Anything that can open ports. NAT of any kind tends to not allow opening ports.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Absolutely. However I feel like the whole thread needs extra clarification, considering the question OP posed.
Dynamic DNS isn't a magic wand in the way a Reverse Proxy over VPN is.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Yea, that is also what I thought. To bypass this, you would need something like Cloudflare Tunnels or setup a VPN on a VPS, that redirects traffic to your homeserver.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Data send via HTTP is not encrypted. That's bad.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I want it encrypted but I don't want to ask a 3rd party to get a certificate.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Letsencrypt provides free certificates. It's very easy to get one from them.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 11 months ago (3 children)

If they're easy to get, why have them 😑

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

I'm not sure I understand the question. They are used to encrypt traffic and prove that the entity hosting the site hasn't changed by using a digital signature. These two together make it so third parties can't read the traffic coming through. This is a requirement for modern internet. Otherwise your passwords wouldn't be a secret because literally anyone would see them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Because then you can encrypt your traffic with HTTPS 🙃

[–] [email protected] -3 points 11 months ago

This is madness 🤯

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

If they're easy to get, why not have them 😉

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Plain HTTP should be considered obsolete. Also it makes impersonating websites harder (but not impossible)

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Additionally, HTTPS if very easy to set up nowadays and the certificates are free^1^.

^1^: Assuming you have a public domain name, but for ActivityPub that's already a requirement due to the push nature of the protocol.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

You can get Let's Encrypt certificates for DuckDNS, so you don't even need to own anything.