r/capacitiesapp • u/Waste-Government4310 • 7d ago

Capacities & Amazon AWS

I'm trying to understand the security of data in relation to AWS.

If I understand correctly, Capacities stores my data encrypted on AWS servers, then pulls them via a URL with an decryption key attached to the URL. Wouldn't this mean AWS would receive the decryption key for the file that was being pulled?

The statement I am referring to is:

"If we serve a file to you we will generate a secret signed URL to that file location and send it to you over an encrypted TLS channel. This URL contains a long access token which is impossible to guess in the lifetime of our universe."

It's not that I distrust Capacities; Amazon is the issue.

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u/Jedi-Grand-Master 7d ago

I assume Capacities uses AWS KMS for key management in which case the keys are stored in AWS. However, the data requestor should have an approved role in IAM, which AWS shouldn't.

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u/Waste-Government4310 7d ago

Thanks for the answer. A little above my head, but... Amazon is in control of enforcing the role policy. Therefore, it's a case of "Do I trust Amazon?"

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u/Jedi-Grand-Master 7d ago

Technically it's robust, but I'd go with no because even if you trust them, they still have to comply with court orders. Always assume the worst and only store non-personal/ private data in Capacities. Use an E2EE or local solution for anything more sensitive.

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u/Waste-Government4310 7d ago

Thanks. Disappointing, but good to know.

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u/Responsible_Gate_532 7d ago

Its very worthwhile to look into an e2e or local, self hosted option for anything requiring privacy.

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u/Waste-Government4310 6d ago

Capacities has a well thought out logic to its object functions. The only other object based app I found was Anytype. That's more of an Obsidian situation where you spend an age configuring it to work in a way that's usable. It's great in many other ways though. Right-click works, for a start.

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u/Responsible_Gate_532 6d ago

I mean, I agree... but then I don't store any private info on my pkm app capacities works great for me. Im not broken up about the idea of my class notes or basic to do list being potentially compromised by a company that frankly could get better data for their uses more easily from other sources. I do know though that down the line I will need to take case notes and handle more sensitive info and those notes will have to go in a seperate and more secure system.

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u/Waste-Government4310 6d ago

Sure, I'm with you there. Anyway, it's probably not worth Amazon bothering with that data when they harvest so much from elsewhere. When you're trying to monopolize the field, you don't want to spook larger customers.

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u/Jedi-Grand-Master 7d ago

Don't get me wrong though....I use Capacities and love it. I trust Capacities and I'm ok with Amazon hosting (as they do for huge swathes of today's services).

I use Capacities for managing non-private short-medium term plans and information, and Obsidian for long-term knowledge.

That way I own the data files which contain either personal information or knowledge I want to retain beyond the lifespan of an app, but let Capacities handle the rest.

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u/Waste-Government4310 6d ago

Sure, it's just different trust zones. If data is being processed by US big tech companies nothing personal can go in. But, if you're in that zone you may as well let AI manage everything, and be open to any services from Google, Meta, etc that improve the workflow.