Phil Zimmermann's New App Protects Smartphones From Prying Ears

Hugh Pickens writes "Neal Ungerleider notes that cryptography pioneer and Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) creator Phil Zimmermann has launched a new startup that provides industrial-strength encryption for Android and iOS where users will have access to encrypted phone calls, emails, VoIP videoconferencing, SMS, and MMS. Text and multimedia messages are wiped from a phone's registry after a pre-determined amount of time, and communications within the network are allegedly completely secure. An 'off-shore' company with employees from many countries, Silent Circle's target market includes troops serving abroad, foreign businesspeople in countries known for surveillance of electronic communications, government employees, human rights activists, and foreign activists. For encryption tools, which are frequently used by dissidents living under repressive regimes and others with legitimate reasons to avoid government surveillance, the consequences of failed encryption can be deadly. 'Everyone has a solution [for security] inside your building and inside your network, but the big concern of the large multinational companies coming to us is when the employees are coming home from work, they're on their iPhone, Android, or iPad emailing and texting,' says Zimmermann. 'They're in a hotel in the Middle East. They're not using secure email. They're using Gmail to send PDFs.' Another high-profile encryption tool, Cryptocat, was at the center of controversy earlier this year after charges that Cryptocat had far too many structural flaws for safe use in a repressive environment."

Whatever

[nehumanuscrede]

There is no way on this fucking EARTH the powers that be ( read that governments ) are going to let anything tarnish the holy grail of surveillance tech that people stand in line for weeks to buy of their own accord.

Birthers will recind their claim against Obama, Dawkins will get Baptised, and Ron Paul elected president before this will happen.

Rest assured, if it DOES, it is with full blessings of the aforementioned governments.

Re:App store approved?

[tlhIngan]

I doubt it. Our apple overlords will categorise this as 'Undesirable' as it allows their phone users to communicate in ways that they want, and not in ways that are overlord approved.

Given iOS has no APIs for making phone calls without involving the dialler or sending SMSes without invoking Messages, this app would have to be entirely self-contained. Effectively, it's a VoIP phone app that does SMS and MMS, just offering strong encryption.

And there are plenty of VoIP phone apps on iOS. As are private network "free" texting type apps. This is nothing special other than offering encryption.

So in the end, it's just another VoIP app, or "free texting" app, of which there are tons. Like say, Skype.

Re:You mean like Burner for iOS?

[Jessified]

And how many seemingly innocuous apps are denied, when we would predict they should be fine?

Maybe it will be approved...maybe it won't. Nobody can predict it because their rules are so arbitrary. And that, I imagine, is GP's point.

so excited.

[ctime]

"Neal Ungerleider notes that cryptography pioneer and Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) creator Phil Zimmermann has launched a new startup that provides the illusion of industrial-strength encryption for Android and iOS where users will have access to encrypted phone calls, emails, VoIP videoconferencing, SMS, and MMS.

There, fixed it for you.

Does anyone really think any application that is layered on top of IOS is free from interception? Everything is an API, all hidden away, and as much as I love Apple, there is no way in hell I would trust any application running on that device to be free from covert interception(keyboard, voice, you name it). I'm not saying that app doesn't encrypt and do all the right things when transmitting over a network, but I'm going to assume everything is compromised locally on the phone.

And not to be a tin foil hatter, but really, who pays for this stuff and paid these guys salaries in the past anyways (hint, it was your famous uncle).

You betray yourself

[Anonymous Coward]

"There's already a ton of precedent for Apple to approve something like"

"ton of precedent"
and
"something like"

Really give away your lack of confidence in your own argument. Let me state something so you can see the difference.

"The application WILL be approved for sale on Android, that is inevitable as day follows night."

There, and that's why Apple will ultimately fail. Because even the fanboys don't have confidence in Apple making the decision they think is right.

Pointless

[aaaaaaargh!]

The company is US-based. No matter how renowned the makers of this software are, under the Patriot Act they can be forced to secretely put backdoors into their apps and never tell anyone. For this reason alone the encryption is worthless, and possibly even dangerous for companies outside the USA that have to guard trade secrets.

Re:Whatever

[muckracer]

>> and Ron Paul elected president before this will happen.

> FOUR MORE WEEKS, FOUR MORE WEEKS...!! :-D

Of course this was meant as a joke. ;-)
We all know, that in reality Gary Johnson (L) will be elected President! And then we don't need to encrypt our phone calls anymore...at least not because of the government snoops, because Pres. Johnson has shut them all down! :-)