When all of our personal information, pictures, and text messages are autonomously stored in the hard drives of our phones, we almost have no control over who has access to our classified material. Whether you know it or not, hackers are not the only people prying through our digital data, government agencies like NSA have long since established its dominant presence in our daily functions.
If you want to bypass the untraceable government monitoring on your mobile devices, a new phone will soon be out in the market that features an added privacy element. They call it the Blackphone, a smartphone specially designed to enable secure, encrypted communications, private browsing and secure file-sharing.
Blackphone is the brainchild of the collaborated efforts of Washington, DC-based global encrypted communications service Silent Circle and Spanish mobile device startup Geeksphone. This Switzerland-based joint venture partnered to envision new tech projects, with Blackphone set to be the inaugural product.
Under the hood, Black phone is powered by PrivatOS, an Andriod system that gives individuals and large entities the ability to send texts and make calls without compromising user privacy on the device. It is unlocked, making it available on any GSM network.
Helping set the tone of the project, Phil Zimmermann in a press release shared:
“I have spent my whole career working towards the launch of secure telephony products. Blackphone provides users with everything they need to ensure privacy and control of their communications, along with all the other high-end smartphone features they have come to expect.”
The idea of an encrypted smartphone is novel, but it is not the first idea to intrigue the market. In the past, Kickstarter project QSAlpha Quasa IV offered a glimpse of what this kind technology can do for every phone user. Even though QSAlpha Quasa IV was not able to accumulate the necessary funds, which was a whopping $3.2 million, the company has accelerated commercial interest in security and privacy for gadgets.
If you want to replace your fingerprint storing iPhone, the Blackphone will be available for pre-order beginning February 24th – stay tuned! Until then, this video will have to do.
http://vimeo.com/84167384
[via Prnewsire, TechCrunch ]
