Protocol designed by Germ Network for secure, e2ee messaging using MLS
The AC Protocol encapsulates our chosen message security protocol, Messaging Layer Security (MLS), under a new identity layer, and above a new transport layer. In doing so, we decouple identity from transport, allowing us to remove identity from message envelopes in transit, and free both identity and transport layers to flexibly evolve identifiers to serve the divergent needs of each.
This protocol is an internet-native reimagination of your contacts — no longer a rolodex of stale information I accumulated about someone else, but a living, cultivated set of connections over E2EE messaging, within which we safely and consensually update each other as our ends of relationships evolve and move.
Alongside this post, we are open-sourcing our Swift implementation of the protocol under the MIT license.