What Is Blackphone? Silent Circle And Geeksphone Developing Private, Secure Smartphone To Beat NSA Snooping

Blackphone is the first privacy focused smartphone created partially in response to disclosures about widespread NSA spying and dragnet surveillance. Blackphone is intended to be a way for Android smartphone users to assure themselves that their privacy and security is intact in an age where it seems increasingly possible that the NSA or other agencies may have collected information on your call. The Blackphone is being developed by two companies, Silent Circle and Geeksphone. Silent Circle and Geekphone are both well known for their privacy apps and PrivatOS, a “security-oriented” version of the Android OS. Blackphone may be a clear shot across the bow for the NSA.

Details about Blackphone itself isn’t known though according to Mashable it will be a high-end smartphone in terms of specs and it is expected to be launched in the Mobile World Congress. Neither company appears to have much knowledge of hardware as Silent Circle is a US company focused on privacy apps and encryption while Geeksphone is a Spanish company that focuses on Firefox OS developer devices. Either way both companies have assured users that the Blackphone project will be open source, according to Silent Circle CEO Mike Janke and that the Android OS on the phone would also be open source. Geeksphone CEO Phil Zimmerman said, "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.”

Blackphone is the world's first smartphone to put privacy and control ahead of everything else. Ahead of carriers. Ahead of advertising. Blackphone is re-shaping the landscape of personal communications .https://tech2.hu | Facebook: https://goo.gl/CKkcc | Iratkozz fel https://goo.gl/UTSZD

Two small tech companies have joined forces to create the first privacy-focused, surveillance-proof smartphone available on the consumer market. The Blackphone, by developers Silent Circle and Geekphone, runs on PrivateOS, a "security-oriented" version of Android software that uses a virtual private network to make your phone activity anonymous. It allows users to untraceably and privately make calls, send texts, send and receive files, and video chat. Many of the phone's specific details have yet to be revealed, but it is expected that a number of Silent Circle's encryption technologies will be embedded as apps on the device. The first handset is scheduled to be unveiled and available for pre-order on Feb. 24 in Barcelona, Spain at the Mobile World Congress, an annual meeting of mobile communication industry giants known for new product announcements and debuts.

The open source aspect of Blackphone is interesting, though not everyone is happy with the slow speed of Silent Circle in putting the source code on GitHub but Mike Janke said, "It may take us a few months to put it all out there, but it will be.” It seems likely that there will be some third party suppliers involved in providing the hardware. At the same time it’s hard to imagine that it would be too difficult for the NSA or some other agency to figure out how to get a backdoor into, or crack the encryption software of Blackphone. The team does seem to have decent expierence in encryption and privacy software so it will be interesting to see what is unveiled during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The two video’s show some early details about Blackphone, pre-orders are expected to start February 24, 2014 during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.