“In the back and forth battle over consumer privacy, one tends to think of government cryptographers looking to outwit engineers at companies like Google and Apple who help churn out some of the most widely used software across the globe,” Yoni Heisler reports for BGR. “But playing an instrumental role in this cat and mouse game is a man you might not ordinarily expect to see in such a discussion.”
“Meet Moxie Marlinspike, a dreadlocked programmer and apparent encryption guru whose code has left government agencies like the NSA frustrated beyond belief,” Heisler reports. “In an extensive profile on Marlinspike, The Wall Street Journal details how an encyrption program he wrote was so robust, simple, and efficient that WhatsApp — one of the more popular messaging apps on the planet — ‘made it a standard feature for many of the app’s 800 million users.'”
Read more in the full article here.
“His encrypted texting and calling app, Signal, has come up in White House meetings, says an attendee,” Danny Yadron reports for The Wall Street Journal. “Speaking via video link last year as part of a panel on surveillance, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked troves of U.S. spying secrets, urged listeners to use “anything” that Mr. Marlinspike releases.”
“A few years ago, Matthew Green, a cryptographer and professor at Johns Hopkins University, unleashed his students on Mr. Marlinspike’s code,” Yadron reports. “To Prof. Green’s surprise, they didn’t find any errors. He compared the experience to working with a home contractor who made ‘every single corner perfectly squared.'”
“Technology companies, once cozy with Washington, sound increasingly like Mr. Marlinspike,” Yadron reports. “After Apple Inc. tweaked its iPhone software so that the company could no longer unlock phones for police, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation accused Apple of aiding criminals. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook counters that he is defending user privacy.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Send high-quality group, text, picture, and video messages, all without SMS and MMS fees. Make crystal-clear phone calls to people who live across town, or across the ocean, with no long-distance charges. Get Signal via Apple’s App Store here.
Wow. Great article! Nice to now there is someone in our corner. Rage against the machine.
f the NSA.
I am glad that you didn’t use a ‘U’ instead of the ‘N’ for NSA but you still have a strong tendency to show up on this site and spew your negativity. Life for non-trolls can be beautiful and I believe that you can learn. Please get back under your bridge and contemplate beauty and wonder.
Hello Johny come lately😇
Perhaps you should be out shrimp fishing with Lt Dan.
Edward Snowden was a government distraction.
He is basically a grey and a UFO all rolled into one.
He is know feeding disinformation not only to the masses, but also to Russia, because those in the know realize that a sleeping Bear will awaken soon.
Looks like both the caller and receiver need the app. Perhaps that should be obvious, but just FYI.
The Hippie heads development on Android. Another person handles the port to iOS. This is essentially on Android app ported.
If it pisses off the spooks at Ft Meade, good. The pols in charge and the contractors are out of control and need a huge citizen applied leash.
And… Ed Snowden deserves a pardon and a medal.
The current WDC meme of needing ‘back-doored’ software & hardware ignores the fact that those same WDC pols want to use solidly encrypted communications themselves.
The meme of ‘back-dooring’ also ignores the fact that groups like Russia and ISIL will just supply their own secure messaging systems if the US legislated a weak system.
Eventually all weak systems will be broken, so only the bad guys will be the winners, once they figure out the back doors.
The US government can’t even keep its own personnel records secret, so why should we think they can keep ANY back door secret for more than a few days!
Nice, but completely lacking in useful detail. What kind of code did he make? Looking into the app shows it uses AES, not a custom encryption routine. I’ve done enough research (and published some) in cryptography to know that 90% of the “new unbreakable codes” are snake-oil.
On the other hand, I greatly applaud Moxie for his efforts evangelizing personal privacy.