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Heml.is, New Encrypted Messaging Service From Brokep of the Pirate Bay

Posted by Unknown on from the trust-us-we're-pirates dept.

First time accepted submitter freddej writes "Heml.is ("secret" in Swedish), is a new peer encrypted messaging service from some of the guys behind TPB and Flattr. They describe it as this: 'Our focus is your privacy so we are building everything from software to company structure to protect that. The others are focused on maximizing profit.' So if you agree on the mantra that 'if you're not paying, you're the product' then you might want to check them out." Caveats: they are begging for money and there is no mention whether this will be Free Software or some kind of proprietary service (in which case, how can you really trust it?). It looks more likely it will be a closed application/service: "We're building a message app where no one can listen in, not even us. We would rather close down the service before letting anyone in ... [what will codes unlock?] It will give you access to extended features of Heml.is like sending image messages and other stuff in the future. Pre-register username will let you register your username before the app is released."

2 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. What's wrong with OTR? by knopf · · Score: 5, Informative
    Off-the-Record messaging already provides encryption of chat messages, works on top of existing IM services, and you get the bonus that you can get the warm fuzzy feeling from sticking it to the man by using a company's service (like Google talk) that tries to log/mine data, but they can't use your data.

    Many clients already support OTR: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-the-Record_Messaging#Native
    Many clients have plugins for OTR: http://www.cypherpunks.ca/otr/

  2. "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." by seoras · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When you try to eradicate anything and fail you only succeed in make it stronger and more menacing.
    It's true in medicine with antibiotics and bacteria, it's true in nature with mosquitoes and the various failed attempts to defeat their spread of malaria.

    Skype was born from the technology to evade detection and network filtering (Kazaa).
    First time I fire up Skype I couldn't believe the complexity of the networking it got into.
    A close friend, who worked in networking with me, un-installed it immediately as it looked like a trojan at the network layer.

    TPB people have learned some very hard lessons about evasion, law and staying alive online under extreme hostilities.

    It'll be interesting to see what the next "Skype" will be and this could be either it, or one more step towards it.