Matrix: a new specification for federated realtime chat

In the end it's a matter of pragmatism. We have designed the whole system to support e2e crypto (i.e. the servers never nake any assumptions about being able to read inside oayloads for routing/filtering/etc) . We just haven't got around to defining the implementation yet. (patches welcome!)

In the end, we want Matrix clients to be as trivial and tiny as possible - eg IoT connected devices talking trivial HTTP. That simply means not mandating HTTPS on the client/server API. Obviously one will be able to define rooms which are E2E only, and then you get best of both worlds.

I sympathise with the idea that "creating an unencrypted protocol in this day and age is unethical". But in the end I also like choice. If you as a user want to mandate crypto (once e2e has landed), you can. And if you as a user want to support lobotomised clients at the expense of privacy, you can too. Everybody wins.