A Former Skype Product Boss Has Invented An Uncrackable Encrypted Messaging Service

[Just found this article]:

If you're the type of person who likes to know that he or she can email or send files with the knowledge that you're doing so completely securely, you'll want to check out Perzo.

Perzo functions as a communications platform that uses some novel encryption and decryption methods to keep your messages completely safe from prying eyes. It's the brainchild of David Gurle, a technologist with an extensive career that includes roles at companies like Skype, Thomson Reuters, and Microsoft among others.




http://www.businessinsider.com/perzo-2013-11

 

Gald to see that more and more people are working hard to find new ways to communicate in private.

 

I don't know, it seems more like a business trying to get off the ground, than a transparent effort to provide private and secure communications.

I mean, you go to the webiste. It immediately presents you with nothing but a blank requesting your email address. It provides zero explanation of what it does, how it works, what it's going to do with your email address. Even searching around, there's very little information about how the service works and what it does.

I don't trust systems that require you to provide personal information and create accounts, before you can even understand what they are. And I don't trust systems that do not up front explain in detail what they do, what technology they're using, and how they work.

In addition, I'm all for more and different modes of secure and private communication. But I feel like the problem really isn't that the technology hasn't been developed. There are already very good secure VOIP and messaging applications. The problem is adoption. As long as everyone is on Skype, no one wants to bother with other softwhere. I can setup Redphone or Ostel or TextSecure or PGP email, but no one I know uses them or can be bothered to, so I can't really benefit much from the technology.

I often think it's too bad. The technology exists. The software exists. It would be easy for us all to have encrypted totally private communication. Skype could just flip the switch and remove the NSA backdoor tomorrow. We could all just suddenly decide to use Redphone. Problem would be solved. But that level of social organization just probably isn't going to happen.

 

from the link:

I like that idea, although I don't want to give them my email address until I find out more... Anyone know what the advantage of this system is over PGP encrypted email?

 

cb474 excellent post.

 

Looks interesting

But we need a LOT more info about their Privacy Policy etc etc. I know it's a Beta, but even so as they are wanting people to sign up, they should be upfront with as much info as possible, FIRST.

Plus, how are they going to fund it in the long term ?

 

Very good question. No one would provide free service forever without strings attached. They must sell something to get the cash flow, otherwise they will die. Common sense and logic tell me our privacy will be traded sooner or later.
I have no intention to trust its claim completely.

 

http://betanews.com/2013/11/12/qa-with-secure-communications-service-perzo/

 

Thanks for the link.

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So I find this remark troubling:

How can Perzo provide end to end encryption, as claimed elsewhere in the interview, and do "smart parsing" that clearly requires their machines to read your email? First we look at it for our datamining, then we encrypt it and send it to your other party? It seems a bit like if Google was trying to allow Gmail users to communicate with each other in a way the protected them from NSA prying, etc., but still let Google do all their datamining. I guess that's better than nothing, but doesn't this mean that Perzo is just presenting itself as a kinder gentler Google? Not really what I have in mind when I want "secure" communication with "total privacy" (words from Perzo's about page).