The threat of silence
February 6, 2013
Credit: Silent Circle
For the past few months, some of the world’s leading cryptographers have been keeping a closely guarded secret about a pioneering new invention. Today, they’ve decided it’s time to tell all, Slate Future Tense reports.
Back in October, the startup tech firm Silent Circle ruffled governments’ feathers with a “surveillance-proof” smartphone app to allow people to make secure phone calls and send texts easily.
Now, the company is pushing things even further — with a groundbreaking encrypted data transfer app that will enable people to send files securely from a smartphone or tablet at the touch of a button.(For now, it’s just being released for iPhones and iPads, though Android versions should come soon.)
That means photographs, videos, spreadsheets, you name it — sent scrambled from one person to another in a matter of seconds.
“This has never been done before,” boasts Mike Janke, Silent Circle’s CEO. “It’s going to revolutionize the ease of privacy and security.”
(More)
Comments (16)
by Cybernettr
When your mind file is uploaded to the cloud, you’ll be grateful for encryption.
by Editor
… just don’t lose your password :)
by erichlof
In one breath we want a transparent, open-source, copyright-free internet; then in the next breath we want encryption and privacy.
Sorry you can’t have it both ways. Personally, I am for the former: an open-source transparent internet and communications network. If the government wants to listen in on my top-secret grocery list review with my wife, or look at the 1000th picture of my pet, let them waste their time doing it.
And the good side is that the bad people/nut-jobs out there would know that their more sinister activity is just as transparent as my normal/boring activity. Better for everyone’s safety.
by Gary
Thats fine as long as you are a law abiding citizen in a society with rational and fair laws. I dont quite get why you think open source and copyright free would have to mean encryption free? The open source community and PGP have gone hand in hand for years.
by Bri
Government retains the right to backdoors. They have to. Think about it for a few. If they didn’t then a hostile force could effectively orchestrate untold harm. The question is more about who gets to do the overview. Who watches the Watchmen? There will always be a need for oversight. It’s the abuse of power that has to be controlled. It doesn’t matter which side is using what power. It’s akin to the term moral hazard as used in the movie Wall Street/ Money never sleeps. Humans tend to abuse their moral obligations. Morals and ethics, morals and ethics. We don’t need a new toy we need morals and ethics. To paraphrase another line from the movie, we’ve all been drinking the same immoral kool aid. Everybody just loves that ride on the slippery slopes. Hey by the way, I’ve created a saying. It’s not catchy. I haven’t figured out a slick way of saying it yet but it goes like this. Don’t hesitate to inconvenience someone if you yourself are being inconvenienced yourself.. Watch it in action in your day to day affairs. It’s the credo of our times. It’s everywhere. If you have trash in your car why wait till you find a garbage can. Just throw it out the window and make it somebody else’s problem.. It could be said of encryption. If you need your privacy, turn that into an issue to cut the hands off of big brother. Your inconvenience can be turned into a huge inconvenience for everyone. That way the next Osama Bin Laden will be able to operate unfettered as he plans your ultimate demise. Hey come on now, he needs his privacy too you know.
by HevvyKevvy
Well put Bri! :)
by DrDubious
We’re supposed to believe that anyone who “needs to know” doesn’t already have a backdoor to this thing?
Give me a break.
by Erik
They have encrypted som files using a smart phone, should we be impressed? It’s not even close to groundbreaking and there are already apps that can do that, i.e Dropbox.
And secure? If you are using any kind of mainstream program for encrypting your data you can bet that NSA done their best to find exploits. Sounds more like a honeypot to me.
by Boristabby
It worries me too, that someone could hack into the photo of my Calico Cat, Missy, and maybe draw a mustache on her.
by Marcos Marin
Nothing new. Again, just cryptography for dummies.
by GP
How is this better than TOR?
by Marcos Marin
Worlds apart.
by Aaron Wright
This is different than TOR. TOR works to anonymize who you are and what sites you are visiting, but it is still possible for some people on the TOR network to see the data itself. This app appears to encrypt the data, so even if it is interecepted, nobody can read it.
by Jordan Dimov
I don’t know about “never been done before”. Apps like this have been available for Nokia / Symbian phones for well over a decade now.
by Face
The problem with things like this is that without the code being opensource, the users can never be sure that there isn’t a glaringly large backdoor, intentional or not, that allows interception of messages or encryption/decryption keys.
by Face
But I suppose my concern is irrelevant, judging by the text in the full article. Cheers to the company for understanding those concerns and already getting ready to handle them.