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Comment by shiado | Hacker News Reader

This is a really cool concept. But ultimately you cannot get past the analog hole. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_hole

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Reminds of that time someone invented dropbox, and one of the top comments was "For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be accessed through built-in software."

To my mind it's a bit different in that this guy is saying the software can't actually guarantee what it's supposed to, and not that it could be accomplished with more trouble.

Totally irrelevant. The response to Dropbox you describe was "meh, easily done with existing tools". The analog hole response is "no app can provide what users would assume this app provides"

I think the comparison to Snapchat is more relevant: Snapchat is expected to provide only temporary access, but cannot guarantee that. This did not impede snapchat's growth, and might not really be an issue for rumuki; however, the use context is different so the comparison is not very informative.

His point was that why would anything stop someone from inventing something easier to use

How is this easier to use? compared to what?

From the FAQs:

> How do I know my partner won't abuse my trust?

> You can't. However with Rumuki you have the discretion to only grant playbacks when you can keep an eye on them. You also have the option to revoke all playback grants and delete the recording if trust is ever lost.

Which completely eliminates the use for this app. At least in the sense it is marketed for. If you only want to show the movie when you keep an eye on the one you're showing it to, just show it from your own phone. But I guess the whole point of sexy movies is to be able to watch them away from your partner.

If you do trust the other party, I don't see how this app adds anything but complications. Don't get me wrong, I guess there are some practical applications for the underlying technology and from the looks of it, this seems pretty well engineered and designed. The advertised use case just does not make any sense to me at all.

You can still watch them together and not have to worry about custody of the recording.

not even analog nowadays - literally spinning up any broadcasting software and one play-back later generates copyright-free digital repro.

At least until we have some sort of mind-control technology, which would probably be used for far creepier purposes if/when it did come into existence.

But indeed for now, that analog hole can still be... penetrated. ;-)

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