The problem with encrypted email is that it’s hard to use – if it weren’t, everyone would be using it. So rather than mucking around with encryption keys, they’re using services like Gmail, which leave their messages open for reading if an intelligence agency is secretly tapping the provider’s fiber, or if law enforcement comes knocking at the front door.
This is why the Dark Mail project, which ended its Kickstarter campaign comfortably past the $196,608 goal late Wednesday, is so intriguing. It represents the evolution of two notable secure email schemes that shut themselves down in the wake of the Snowden disclosures, Lavabit and as such it’s got some hefty talent running the show.
Read moreThe email service reportedly used by surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden abruptly shut down on Thursday after its owner cryptically announced his refusal to become "complicit in crimes against the American people."
Lavabit, an email service that boasted of its security features and claimed 350,000 customers, is no more, apparently after rejecting a court order for cooperation with the US government to participate in surveillance on its customers. It is the first such company known to have shuttered rather than comply with government surveillance. Silent Circle, another provider of secure online service.
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