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From the Build Log.
Our thinking on privacy, cryptography, and the design decisions behind sTELgano. No marketing fluff. Just engineering.
Why Your Privacy App Shouldn't Look Like a Privacy App
The best hiding place is one nobody thinks to look. We explain the philosophy behind contact-layer steganography and why discretion beats overt encryption.
Understanding Contact-Layer Steganography
A deep dive into the cryptographic technique that hides encrypted communication channels inside ordinary phone contacts.
The N=1 Principle: Why We Only Keep One Message
Most messengers hoard your history forever. sTELgano keeps exactly one message per room at any time. Here's why that's a feature, not a limitation.
Client-Side Encryption: Your Browser Is the Vault
How the Web Crypto API turns your browser into a zero-knowledge encryption engine, and why the server never sees your plaintext.
What sTELgano Protects Against (And What It Doesn't)
An honest look at our threat model. We tell you exactly who we defend against and where our protection ends.
The Passcode Test: How We Design Every Feature
Every design decision at sTELgano must pass one question: what does a suspicious partner see when they unlock your phone?
Why We Chose Elixir and Phoenix for Real-Time Privacy
The technical reasons behind our choice of Elixir, Phoenix Channels, and the BEAM VM for building a privacy-first messaging platform.
PBKDF2 and 600,000 Iterations: Slowing Down Attackers
Why we make your browser work hard for two seconds every time you log in, and how key stretching protects your PIN from brute force.
Open Source Privacy: Why AGPL-3.0 Matters
Privacy software you can't audit is privacy software you can't trust. We explain why AGPL-3.0 is the right licence for a security tool.
Self-Hosting sTELgano: Your Server, Your Rules
A practical guide to running your own sTELgano instance. Full control over your infrastructure, your data, and your trust boundary.
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