Dotcom’s Mega is developing a secure messaging protocol

Kim Dotcom's Mega has been a big news item for us tech journos in the past year. We've got to bring up his legal issues and the relaunching of a cloud platform backed by the internet mogul, speculating whether it would last with his extradition still up in the air. Anyone that doubted it would however, has been sorely mistaken as Mega is still going strong and there are even plans to expand into encrypted messaging.

In an interview with the NewZealand Herald, Kim Dotcom outlined plans for encrypted communication platforms, extending the security already incorporated in the Mega cloud backup service. “We are working on encrypted email, IM, etc.” said Dotcom during the interview. “The key to make encryption a global success is ease of use. So I am spending most of my time figuring out how I can give you encryption without you having to do anything and at the same time give you military grade privacy. You are all naked on the Internet. I like to help you put some pants on :-).”

Mega's launch and continued operation is a big middle finger to the US and NZ authorities that shut down Megaupload

Dotcom didn't extrapolate on how this would be achieved, though it'll likely use the same proprietary technology used in Mega. However it will need to do something quite different, since currently available secretive messaging services usually require a browser plugin and/or paid subscriptions.

Dotcom yesterday released a White Paper from his legal teams, detailing his arrest, the subsequent Megaupload shutdown and his ongoing extradition woes.

KitGuru Says: I'm all for more privacy and security online. Anonymity is a great thing and it's being eroded with a new wave of privacy destroying legislation and websites that champion information sharing for advertising purposes. [Thanks GigaOm]

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