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Zimmermann's Silent Circle Now Live

Posted by timothy on from the different-zimmerman dept.

e065c8515d206cb0e190 writes "Several websites have announced the launch of Silent Circle, PGP's founder Phil Zimmermann's new suite of tools for the paranoid. After a first day glitch with a late approval of their iOS app, the website seems to now accept subscriptions. Have any slashdotters subscribed? What does SilentCircle provide that previous applications didn't have?"

4 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Now, with centralized user tracking! by interval1066 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Even so, with Zimmerman's involvement I tend more to a "trust" relationship than an "untrusted" one. Zimmerman is on my whitelist.

    --
    Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
  2. Re:Phil Zimmerman is ok in my book by e065c8515d206cb0e190 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    OP here.

    Exactly. My reason to believe SilentCircle is in good faith is Zimmerman's history fighting for privacy. It doesn't mean I would trust that service. But I guess it gives some hope that people are going to become more aware of privacy issues in general.

    Which is why I was ambivalent about this and came to get /.'s opinion

  3. Re:Now, with centralized user tracking! by Bysshe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Zimmermann's one of those hyper-idealists who will defend his position to his own detriment and the detriment of anyone close to him. If you have to trust someone for privacy, its him.

    --
    Read what I mean, not what I wrote.
  4. Re:Now, with centralized user tracking! by chihowa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Even so, with Zimmerman's involvement I tend more to a "trust" relationship than an "untrusted" one. Zimmerman is on my whitelist.

    That's funny, because I almost feel the complete opposite way. I really want to trust Zimmerman, but I can't make myself do it. Part of it is keeping his work closed source, which is extra scary when talking about cryptography. Being asked to trust a security solution that you can't examine is insane.

    But part of it also comes from his past. He went against the wishes of the US government and won. In my experience, that just doesn't happen... ever. The fact that he's still working in cryptography and not in some hole somewhere makes me think he's playing ball with the government. It at least raises doubts, which cannot be alleviated by reviewing the source code.

    Or maybe I'm just paranoid. But cryptography is the plaything of the paranoid, and relying on the paranoid to just trust you seems a little off.

    --
    If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.