Kim Dotcom wants to take on Skype by launching privacy-focused MegaChat

[BoraMurdar]

Content source

http://www.neowin.net/news/kim-dotcom-wants-to-take-on-skype-by-launching-privacy-focused-megachat

Kit Dotcom who, by this point is an internet celebrity, will soon be launching a new video calling service with end-to-end encryption.

The famous entrepreneur, and some would say privacy rights activist, hinted back at the start of the year that his new Mega cloud storage solution will likely expand with new privacy-focused products.

The new service, dubbed MegaChat, will supposedly offer a highly secure and encrypted way for users to chat and send video messages. Dotcom also mentions high-speed file transfer as a feature which is an obvious tie-in to his Mega business.

MegaChat has already been shown off in public, though not mentioned at such. It was the service used in a conference to conduct calls with Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.

In a direct dig at an obvious major competitor, Dotcom namedropped Skype claiming it was by no means secure as Microsoft’s service had to comply with US law and as such had to build backdoors for the NSA’s spying program.

Being currently based in New Zealand, Dotcom’s MegaChat will supposedly be free from such problems and its encryption will only help users’ privacy. Of course that still remains to be seen as simple encryption is by no means a foolproof defense against the NSA’s efforts.

 

[yigido]

- Please encrypt everything..
+ Why?
- Because we can

I love Kim Dotcom, He wants to encrypt half of the internet and you will learn more about Megaupload and his opinions..great interview.

 

[eight]

Messengers come, Messengers go, Skype Rules :

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype

 

[scot]

Goodluck to Kim.

 

[Petrovic]

The new service, apparently named MegaChat, will be browser-based

Kim Dotcom, founder of the file hosting service Mega, is preparing to launch an encrypted video-calling and chat service that will shield its users' communications from government surveillance.

"Mega will soon release a fully encrypted and browser-based video call and chat service including high-speed file transfers," the entrepreneur known as Kim Dotcom said in a tweet.

Kim Dotcom is positioning the service as a more secure way to chat and collaborate online free of government surveillance or spying, partly by virtue of Mega being based in New Zealand. Kim Dotcom has been teasing the app for some time, though now it appears nearly ready for prime time.

"No U.S.-based online service provider can be trusted with your data," Kim Dotcom said in a separate tweet. "They must provide the U.S. government with backdoors," he said.

Documents leaked last year by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have indicated that the governments in the U.S. and in the U.K. have accessed user data from online service providers.

Kim Dotcom did not give a precise launch date for the new service. MegaChat appears to be its name, judging from an earlier demo. He did not respond to a request for further comment.

Kim Dotcom made a point of singling out Microsoft-owned Skype as a less secure competitive service. But Skype does use encryption for all Skype-to-Skype voice, video, file transfers and instant messages.

Facebook-owned WhatsApp also added end-to-end encryption late this year. It's part of a larger trend of companies seeking to better protect their users' messages from outside snooping, either by the government or by malicious groups.

But encryption and other added security measures can also make companies a compelling target for snooping. Tor, TrueCrypt and Tails topped the NSA's cryptographic "most wanted" list of 2012, according to documents leaked by Snowden.

 

[Oxygen]

Now this is something I need.

 

[scot]

Goodluck to Kim. Hope to see him succeed in this attempt.

 

[BoraMurdar]

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